Joint Meeting on Lifelong Learning in the Twenty-First Century: The Changing Roles of Educational Personnel

The report has been prepared using a wide variety of sources, beginning with information available from a range of ILO reports and statistical material. Important material was provided by ILO officials from the Training Policies and Systems Branch, the Bureau of Statistics, and the Special Team: World Employment 1998-99. Extensive use was made of data, analysis and viewpoints on education and lifelong learning generously provided by the following individuals and organizations: officials of the Education, Training and Youth Directorate of the European Commission; the Director and staff of EURYDICE, the Information Network on Education in Europe; staff of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training; staff of the International Bureau for Education (IBE); the Deputy Director (Education) and principal administrators of the Directorate of Education, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs and the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); and officials of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Viewpoints and information were also provided by employers’ and teachers’ organizations, and by a number of academic specialists and practioners in the field of lifelong learning, education and training. Extensive use was made of official government reports available on Internet sites or through intergovernmental organizations.

The report was prepared by the International Labour Office. It was coordinated by Mr. Bill Ratteree, Education Sector Specialist, Sectoral Activities Department, ILO, Geneva, who wrote Chapters 2, 3 and contributions to other chapters. The framework and much of the content on lifelong learning for Chapter 1, as well as contributions to the Appendix, were based on a paper prepared by Drs. David and Catherine Matheson, of the School of Education, University College Northampton, and City University, London, United Kingdom, respectively. The first part of Chapter 4 is based to a great extent on a paper by Professor Brian Caldwell, Dean of Education, and Dr. Gerard Calnin, Director of Studies, Newman College, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, who also made contributions to Chapter 3. The second part of the Chapter is based on papers by Mr.Anthony Twigger, former Senior Vocational Training Specialist, ILO, Geneva, Ms.Marilyn Davies, Education and Training Adviser, New Zealand Employers’ Federation – both of whom also made contributions to Chapter 1 – and Mr. Keith Drake, former Professor and Adviser to the Chancellor on External Initiatives, University of Manchester. The draft report was read and commented on by ILO officials from the Bureau for Employers’ Activities, the Bureau for Workers’ Activities, and the Training Policies and Systems Branch.

The report is published under the authority of the International Labour Office. It goes without saying that a report of this kind cannot be exhaustive in its treatment of such a wide-ranging subject. Nevertheless, it is hoped that by exploring a subject which is increasingly occupying the attention of governments, employers, workers and other interested parties in education and training at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the foundation will be laid for more detailed research, reflection, and decision-making by means of greater social dialogue on the conditions under which lifelong learning can become a reality for all in ILO member States.

Introduction

This report has been prepared as the main background document for the Joint Meeting on Lifelong Learning in the Twenty-First Century: The Changing Roles of Educational Personnel, to be held at the ILO in Geneva from 10-14 April 2000. The Governing Body of the International Labour Office decided to convene this meeting at its 273rd Session in November 1998. It is the second one of its kind to be organized by the ILO for the education sector since a revamped sectoral activities programme began operations in 1996. The first meeting in April 1996 dealt with the “Impact of Structural Adjustment on Educational Personnel”.

Among its outcomes, the 1996 meeting adopted a “Resolution concerning future ILO activities for the educational sector” which recommended that the Governing Body place the question of “educational personnel in the context of lifelong learning in a changing world” on the agenda of the next education sector meeting.^[1] Following its decision to convene the meeting, the Governing Body decided on the type, composition and purpose at its 274th Session (March 1999) as follows:

This report is divided into five main chapters and an appendix. To set the stage for its main theme, Chapter 1 reviews definitions, concepts, policy, funding, organization and evaluation of lifelong learning, the scope of its coverage at the end of the twentieth century to various population groups, curriculum and technology issues, and systemic relations between formal, informal and workplace education and training. Chapter 2 examines expected roles and responsibilities of administrative, teaching and support personnel, especially teaching methods, the initial education and continual training of staff, and their professional and career development. Remuneration levels and structures, as well as basic parameters of the teaching and learning environment – hours and organization of work, class sizes, use of information technology and school infrastructure – are explored in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, the framework for making decisions in an open and participatory manner which facilitates greater social dialogue at educational sites is examined via issues such as the consultative, collective bargaining and dispute resolution mechanisms involving the principal actors. The roles of employers and workers in fostering workplace learning form the second part of this Chapter. A summary and points of discussion at the Meeting are proposed in Chapter 5.

1. Lifelong learning systems: Concepts,
policies, organization and employment

Why lifelong learning is important:
Differing concepts

Given the multiple roles traditionally ascribed to education and training, as well as the emphasis on constant change in our modern societies – whether of a political, economic, environmental, technological or social nature – there is every indication that learning needs to become a lifelong function. If knowledge, skills and learning abilities are not renewed, the capacity of individuals – and by extension, of communities or nations – to adapt to a new environment will be considerably reduced, if not cut off entirely. Lifelong learning is a survival issue. The importance for persons to continue learning throughout their active working life, and even beyond, will increasingly move to the top of individual, national and international agendas in the future.

The concept of lifelong learning as purposeful learning, be this formal, non-formal or informal, as opposed to the day-to-day learning that all people engage in throughout their lives, is the underlying theme upon which this report is based.

Learning can be defined in terms of outcomes, competencies and/or in terms of process. At the heart of the lifelong learning debate – relaunched with the Faure et al report, Learning to Be (1972) – lies the question of whether it is the end result that counts or the means to attain it. Further impetus to the debate was given in 1996 with the appearance of the report by Delors et al. (1996) Learning: The treasure within, which attempted, among other things, to synthesize international developments in thinking to that point in time. The impact of this publication and the reactions to it, plus considerable research and thinking within the OECD (1996) and the European Union (1995 and 1999), underline the fact that however we choose to define learning generally, the notions of lifelong learning, lifelong education, the learning society and the learning age have become among the most discussed educational policy issues facing societies.

Lifelong learning is now the guiding principle for policy strategies concerned with objectives ranging from a nation’s economic well-being and competitiveness to personal fulfilment and social cohesion. It is widely assumed to be essential for everyone and therefore has to be made available to all (OECD, 1996). Moreover, the concept applies to all peoples and nations regardless of their level of development, and is therefore increasingly backed by governments, funding bodies and international organizations, with a view to equalizing cultural and human capital (Jary and Thomas, 1999). Though some have questioned the feasibility of a “learning society” there is a sense of optimism that skills can be picked up at any stage in life, in contrast to a more restrictive and pessimistic vision of skills development emerging from formal learning.

A number of theories and models of what a learning society might look like range from those which advocate that the whole learning experience is driven by the logic of the market and economic relevance to those which maintain that the main goals are personal well-being, active citizenship and personal empowerment in the sense of becoming capable of making authentic choices (Duman, 1999). Between these two poles in the lifelong learning debate there are a multitude of intermediate positions.

At one end of the conceptual spectrum, the axis of personal fulfilment and social well-being is inspired in part by Paulo Freire’s work on literacy and cultural development with a view to raising individual and collective consciousness. Economic growth is not seen as a sine qua non of the Freire approach but rather as a likely consequence of personal and community empowerment (Freire, 1967). With their emphasis on social justice, social difference and social transformation, Freire’s ideas are often termed “critical pedagogy” (Mayo, 1999) and demand an entirely different role for the educator to that most often associated with formal learning and especially school – namely that the educator and learner swap roles, with the one learning from the other.

Post-modernist theories of the end of social class and economic theories of human capital formation frame the opposing pole of lifelong learning based largely on economic necessity. This posits an idea that one’s learning is most worthwhile when it is linked to gaining or retaining employment or economic betterment generally. Without doubt, higher-level education and skills are often keys to greater individual income and well-being. Some government policy positions (for example, the United Kingdom Government’s Green Paper The Learning Age: A Renaissance for a New Britain – DfEE, 1998a) put the case for lifelong learning largely in terms of the qualifications for better employment. The arguments for lifelong learning which underpinned the adoption by OECD education ministers of a policy statement on lifelong learning in 1996 are linked foremost to employment and the economy, even if reference is also made to its importance for democracy and social cohesion (OECD, 1996).

In fact, the collective utilitarian reasoning for lifelong learning is driven to a great extent by these twin concerns for economic prosperity and social stability. On the one hand, the importance of education and training for skills development is accelerating. Increased trade and capital flows subsumed under the term globalization, resulting competitive pressures and alterations in work organization, and the constant need to adjust to ever-changing technological progress, fuel greater and greater demands for highly skilled and adaptable labour. These changes are evidenced in a shift from labour-intensive, low value added to more capital-intensive, highly sophisticated industrial processes, from largely industrial to service-oriented economies, and within the services to communication and information applications.

In this process, research has pointed out the key role played by appropriate levels of supporting skills derived from good education and training systems – rich in content and ways of learning – in encouraging the transition to a different economic base and to higher productivity of individual firms. Equally important, education and skills development are essential, though not sufficient conditions for employment-intensive growth (ILO, 1998a).

At the same time, a steady change in the size and structure of economic sectors subject to global – not just local or national-competition, requires or encourages workers to be more adaptable to new forms of work organization, new jobs and new careers if they do not wish to be unemployed for long periods of time. High-income countries are able to provide various levels of social safety nets to cushion change, but these are often of limited duration and, moreover, costly. The large majority of developing countries either do not have the resources, or have chosen not to deploy extensive social security backup. The danger of growing workplace stratification if learning is not broadened and deepened has been noted; the idea that the workplace of the future will be led by an educated elite trained to manage a growing but expendable army of casual and part-time workers (Wirt, 1989). Resulting income stratification, social exclusion and attendant social problems (crime, drugs, etc.) suggest that optimizing individual and collective economic opportunity, reducing the human and social costs of change and assuring the base for a democratic future go hand in hand with reflections on transforming educational systems into lifelong learning accessible to all.

Links in the lifelong learning chain

These concerns stimulate attempts to develop a culture committed to learning and to provide the necessary opportunities and infrastructure. Yet, in many cases, no such culture exists, or is very weak, and formal systems of schooling, including vocational education and training (VET), are often considered inadequate, disparate and insular. If learning is to become universally accessible over an individual’s lifetime, so the argument goes, a learner-centred approach is needed, combined with variety and diversity of provision. To achieve this, a wide range of country- and region-specific actors and resources should be mobilized and coordinated and numerous structural, institutional and individual obstacles must be overcome.

Much of the rhetoric and literature has taken as its starting point the end of formal education, growing in part out of the concerns expressed above, in part out of other considerations, such as the debates surrounding adult education in the 1970s. The debate increasingly accepts that lifelong learning is exactly that: it begins in the cradle and ends at the grave, embracing democratic participation, personal fulfilment/recreational learning, and the ageing process in addition to economic and employment imperatives (European Commission, 1999). Nonetheless, education is still frequently equated with school, as is learning. An important step to be taken along the road to creating real and worthwhile systems of lifelong learning consists in changing concepts so that school is equated to a type of formal education, essential at one point in the learning chain, but not synonymous with education and learning as a whole. Learning must be seen to be an active part of life before lifelong learning systems can be more easily developed in practice.

Notwithstanding the broader picture, the educational and learning chain remains firmly anchored in formal schooling for the vast majority of the world’s population. The various components of schooling are in turn key links in the chain. Early childhood education is expected to provide the first formal learning opportunities, extending the early family-centred learning, and initiating socialization. Primary education, which provides the foundation for further education through basic literary, numeracy, and initial learning skills, is expected to strengthen knowledge and skills teaching, and find new ways to develop learning motivation and capacity. At secondary level this emphasis must be sustained, and higher-level knowledge (languages, maths, sciences and inter-curricular content for example) and learning abilities developed, along with life skills which may already have begun in primary schools. Primary and secondary education continue to serve as socializing institutions, passing on predominant cultural, political and moral values, and sometimes challenging them. One important issue at secondary level concerns the introduction of vocational streams, which should provide for transfer in both directions (academic and technical) at all stages, in line with the concept of multiple pathways and transitions in lifelong learning and work (OECD, 1996). Higher education is intended to build on knowledge and learning abilities at a more sophisticated level, preparing an increasing number of learners for technological, scientific, intellectual and professional work. At all parts of the chain, policy papers and research in recent years have emphasized the place of teachers and schools in instilling the motivation and skills necessary for genuine lifelong learning (OECD, 1996 and 1999), a subject examined in greater depth in Chapter 2.

Some have questioned an especially “Western school/university/work paradigm” developed in very particular circumstances and dependant on fixed careers, lifetime jobs and more or less established competences that appears to be increasingly challenged by a globalized economy (King, 1999). This model seems even less appropriate for industrializing countries as they have to fit into a very different economic climate from that which pertained when the model was derived in the nineteenth century, or earlier. As a result, non-formal education has become an increasingly debated and applied doctrine.

Such notions are in fact driving the concept of lifelong learning forward, as the notion of age-bound education gives way to the imperatives of permanent learning. Formal education and schooling are expected to be the jumping-off point in the chain for decades of learning experiences. In this context, a strong foundation in basic skills needs to be laid for everyone equally if large segments of a given population are not to be denied access to further learning, thereby exacerbating problems of social exclusion (European Commission, 1995; Delors, 1996). To be truly lifelong, however, it is increasingly assumed that learning beyond formal schooling, at whatever level that it terminates, will provide not just sporadic opportunities but a continual process of learning which goes beyond the more limited notions of adult education that kicked off the modern debate.

Policies and organization surrounding
lifelong learning

Governments, enterprises and individuals expect, or at least hope for – to a varying degree depending on the underlying objectives of lifelong learning noted above – some financial or other return on their learning investments, such as increased employment and national income, productivity/worker flexibility, personal satisfaction or enhanced community development. These expectations drive policies and decisions with regard to learning opportunities. The diverse manners in which individuals, groups, communities and societies benefit from education are aptly and succinctly illustrated by the World Bank (1999a) in its Education Sector Strategy.

Primary and secondary education

In view of these benefits, there is a clear drive throughout the world towards maximizing access to basic education and increasing the “school life expectancy” of young learners. UNESCO statistics show a steady increase in the numbers of young people in first-level education in recent years. However, major disparities remain between the regions of the world and this is demonstrated most starkly by comparisons between the least developed and the more developed countries as shown in the appendix to this report.

It is clear that at the all-important first step towards lifelong learning, the primary school, there are far too many young people who simply do not figure in the formal educational process, and who face long odds that they will successfully achieve literacy. An estimated 130 million children of primary-school age do not have access to basic education. Nearly two-thirds of these are girls, and the probability of substantially altering these numbers is not bright. Estimates earlier in this decade noted that, in many African and Asian countries where problems are acute, annual average growth in enrolments would need to exceed at least 10 per cent or more just to achieve universal primary enrolment by 2000 (EFA, 1997), a prospect which is more than illusory given the figures in the appendix. In addition, millions more in developing countries for the most part do not reach grade 5, considered a standard measure of minimal learning achievement necessary for the acquisition of basic literacy and numeracy skills. Estimates put the percentages of those reaching grade 5 at a mere 70 per cent or less in southern Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa as a whole (UNESCO, 1998b). These statistics furthermore translate into millions of children engaged in child labour,^[3] with little hope of access to basic schooling.

These failures are then reflected in a huge pool of adolescent and adult illiterates, a further indicator of failure in establishing the foundations for lifelong learning. As table 1.1 indicates, illiteracy^[4] rates are declining but remain excessively high in the developing world. In 1995 there were nearly 900 million illiterate people aged 15 years and over on this planet. It is a staggering indicator – close to one-sixth of the world’s population is unable to read and write – a figure which is not expected to diminish considerably by the beginning of the new millennium (UNESCO, 1998a; UNICEF, 1999).


Country group	Year	Male and female	Male	Female

World	1980 1985 1990 1995	30.5 27.5 24.7 22.6	22.8 20.3 18.1 16.4	38.1 34.6 31.3 28.8
Least developed countries	1980 1985 1990 1995	63.5 59.5 55.2 51.2	51.7 48.1 44.1 40.5	75.1 70.8 66.3 61.9
Developed countries	1980 1985 1990 1995	3.4 2.5 1.8 1.3	2.0 1.6 1.3 1.1	4.6 3.3 2.3 1.6
Source: UNESCO, 1998a.

The gender imbalance in illiteracy levels is evident at both the world level and in the least developed countries. A cursory reading of the statistics leads to the conclusion that poor women are doubly marginalized in terms of literacy (and of course the whole formal educational experience) through being both poor and women. Yet, the acquisition of literacy and numeracy is not only the first step towards lifelong learning for adults; it can have a profound effect, especially for women in rural areas, on population, health, children’s learning, and other positive development indicators, as well as on the process of women’s empowerment through grass-roots development projects (Heward and Bunwaree, 1999; World Bank, 1999). However, as may be seen in table 1.1., this remains a distant objective for large numbers of women (and men), without even considering the question of functional literacy and its impact on learning potential, which has been the object of considerable reflection in both developed and developing countries.

While first-level education may claim to teach basic literacy and numeracy, it is at the second level that preparation for further education and employment arguably begins in earnest. At this level, the disparities between the least developed countries and the developed grow further as do the gender imbalances in the least developed. It is however at the third level, where entrance to higher education is prepared, that the most stark disparities appear, although at all levels in most developing countries progress continues to be made in widening participation in general – and in participation by females in particular.

Another measure of access is use of the Internet and other distance learning media. An important aspect of distance learning is the provision of schooling up to the level of lower secondary for out-of-school youths. As noted above, participation rates in the least developed countries fall between the primary and secondary levels. The other developing countries also show a decline although it is not usually as marked. Distance education based on information technology is increasingly seen as an attractive means of reintegrating these lost learners into educational systems. Networks, such as the Global Distance Education Net (DistEdNet), a knowledge guide to distance education designed to help clients of the World Bank and others interested in using distance education for human development, are growing (World Bank, 1999b).

Higher education

Since the Second World War the developed countries have been progressing towards mass higher education, with each country moving at its own pace. Higher education remains an elite proposition in the least developed countries. Indeed the extent of provision in these countries is overall more limited than has been seen in many parts of Europe since the nineteenth century. Nonetheless the data has to be put into the context of the employment possibilities for graduates. Where employment possibilities are limited, or even non-existent in particular fields, it is difficult to justify spending scarce resources on them. At the same time there is a patent need to avoid creating or sustaining a brain drain, which results in the most highly qualified persons emigrating and taking valuable human capital investment with them. This places developing nations in a quandary from which they find it difficult to extricate themselves; as yet, solutions still have to be found.

The policy options to address this dilemma include the traditional approach of sponsoring (or having sponsored) postgraduate students or faculty members to study abroad, so that they might disseminate their learning to their compatriots upon returning home. There are educational and financial advantages to such an approach, but there are also a number of disadvantages in exporting talent – albeit on a temporary basis. It deprives the home country of valuable skills temporarily during the study period, and possibly forever if the student never returns. Problems also arise in connection with inappropriate educational situations (and the accompanying culture) in the host country.

Far more ambitious in approach – and especially in use of technology – are distance or virtual learning institutions, such as the African Virtual University (AVU). AVU arranges videoconference teaching and live Internet links across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It brings together academics from developed countries with their colleagues and their students in SSA to help overcome the existing barriers of declining budgets, too few faculty, outdated equipment, and limited space and facilities that prevent increased access to higher education for a significant majority of students (AVU, 1999). The success of the AVU is partially contingent upon the way it manages to address the cultural diversity of its students and integrate distance methodology with the one-to-one fare which is the backbone of traditional universities.

The AVU as a distance learning initiative is distinct from the approach of various high-tech open universities such as the United Kingdom’s Open University or the German Fernuniversität von Hagen which are nominally open to the general population. In practice these depend on high-cost communications equipment available to students in their homes and are therefore not available to most of the world’s population at present. This situation could well change as technology becomes cheaper and more accessible. An initiative which seeks to avoid many of the cultural difficulties of the AVU while addressing information technology challenges is the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) in Scotland (box 1.1).

From school to work

Arguably one of the most critical points in any lifelong learning path occurs when the learner leaves formal education to enter the world of work. For increasing numbers in the developed countries, the transition will be from university into work, however for the majority of learners throughout the world, the transition will remain from school to work. The transition into the labour market is one which clearly varies across the world. In those countries where formal sector employment is limited, or where parents depend on child labour in order to survive, there is clearly no transition from school to work in the same manner as in more prosperous countries. This is not to say that in developed countries children do not work, or that formal sector employment is a given, but the transition in developed countries for the majority tends to consist of moving from a phase of life where formal education is the predominant focus (at least in theory) to one where work is the main focus.

Box 1.1.
The University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) in Scotland

The UHI project is an academic network of 13 existing colleges of further education and other specialist institutions supported by a small executive office team which makes extensive use of advanced information communication technologies (ICT). UHI also conducts research into ways of reducing the costs involved in Internet access and builds on existing resources and physical infrastructures to deliver to its primary clientele, scattered across sparsely populated areas of Scotland, courses which are, for the most part, developed for and by them. Most of the colleges forming the federal university have subsidiary “learning centres” with information technology by means of which students in all but the most remote areas can study a wide range of subjects up to degree level by means of distance-learning packages, videoconferencing and Internet. Highly pertinent from the viewpoint of developing countries and minority cultures, UHI offers a number of its courses in the indigenous Gaelic language.

Source: UHI, 1999a.

Education, training, schools and enterprises ^[5]

In relation to this critically important transition, the dominant influence on organization of technical and vocational education and training at secondary schools, in further education, and to some extent in university-based higher education, is the workplace of the future – which, in some respects and situations, has already arrived. The trend in manufacturing, which is being increasingly mirrored in other profit-oriented sectors, is towards: more agile and responsive systems of working with delayered management; alliances with suppliers; greater implanting of both peripheral and core activities; and a larger proportion of temporary or part-time workers. Labour competencies and flexibility are expected to be high, with rewards and security based largely on performance, while employees will be more responsible for their own development. In addition to the high levels of knowledge and skills required to deal with new technologies and complex and multidisciplinary systems, both general and job-specific, a premium will be placed on the ability to communicate ideas and relate to colleagues and customers.

As regards education for workplace needs, required skills and competencies and use of intelligent machines, etc., it is generally assumed, first and foremost, that new jobs, technology and reorganized workplaces will require a combination of basic knowledge and skills. Among them are literacy and numeracy, computing and communication, and some workplace competencies such as being able to manage resources including money and time, deal with technologies and equipment, understand systems and demonstrate work-related interpersonal skills. It is also considered that the workers of the future will need to be: creative; able to reason; and capable of making independent decisions, solving problems and finding information. They should possess personal characteristics or dispositions such as the capacity to work independently and with others, the confidence to make decisions and the willingness and ability to continue to learn. Moreover, personal qualities (traits) which would be welcomed in any workforce have been identified, including: integrity; responsibility; pride in one’s work; and respect for others (OECD, 1997c).

In a strictly occupational orientation, it appears that preparing people for the world of work is best undertaken in a real life situation through a combination of explicit teaching and practice which takes account of the learner’s existing skills acquired, to a great extent, from formal education. However issues for training providers still need to be addressed. These involve: defining what skills are transferable, generic, general, core or key; assessing their achievability; setting training objectives and a list of priorities to establish whether workplace attributes can be engendered; evaluating the extent to which their acquisition can be measured (McCarty 1996); gauging to what extent attributes are dependent on prevailing knowledge, beliefs and values; and assessing what factors will make successful schemes replicable. Implications of the answers to these questions on mainstream education must also be considered. Some speculate about the lessons to be learned by vocational education and training (VET) from the changes taking place in the workplace and the possibility of using new technology to train in flexible, just-in-time formats (Coffield, 1997). Distance education and course modules on Internet and CDrom could provide “on-demand” skill training, using twenty-first century technology such as computer modelling and simulation.

Linkages and strategic partnerships ^[6]

In the process of considering the appropriate design and outlook of technical and vocational education and training – institution- or enterprise-based – one concept increasingly comes to the fore: the forging of partnerships between trainees, families, employers, trainers, unions and government in order to enrich the learning experience, ease the transition to work and meet individual needs. This concept forms one of the principal notions implicit in a seamless transition from school to work based on shared values, curricula, resources and outcomes (UNESCO, 1999). Special attention will have to be given to many interest groups, among which: the needs of small firms and their employees; the linkages with start-up enterprises based on risk capital and entrepreneurship; the concerns of young people seeking their first jobs, especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic groups; ethnically diverse and immigrant populations; and governments’ desires for high levels of employment, economic well-being and social cohesion.

During the past quarter of a century, government policies in many countries have moved away from rigid, restrictive education and training systems with limited access, clearly defined pathways and few cross-linkages. The recognition that institution-based training, particularly that which is state-run in many developing countries, has often been unresponsive to enterprise needs and poorly articulated with real workplace learning needs, has provided impetus to this trend. As a result, integrated systems are being developed which offer increased variety and flexibility, postponed choices, multi-point entry, and exchange. The clear and distinct separation between school and work which was long evident in schools, especially in academically oriented streams and classes, is now somewhat attenuated.

Pathways from secondary education into higher education and work are thus widening and the links between them are increasing in number and variety. Governments frequently lead the way in partnership-building, though country experiences and objectives differ. A general trend in many of the EU States has been to try to find ways to bring education and work closer together, both in terms of the relevance of the knowledge and skills imparted through education, and in terms of the organizational links between education and work organizations (Green, Wolf and Leney, 1999). Special programmes have been created to facilitate transitions (box 1.2).

Box 1.2.
The Transition to Adult Life (TAL) Pilot Project in Glasgow, Scotland

With funding support from the EU, the aims of TAL were multiple, including the creation of links with secondary schools in other parts of the EU, organization of pupil (and staff) exchanges, and the creation of various mini-enterprise projects where pupils, under the guidance of a teacher, set up and ran small businesses for profit. TAL fostered links with the local community and, through its good offices, initiatives to encourage adults to return to school were undertaken, in some cases to learn alongside young people. In the Scottish experience, boundaries of social class were crossed, encouraging people, especially women, to benefit not only from academic subjects at school level but also courses aimed at improving quality of life. Occurring in a multitude of secondary schools throughout Scotland, this blurring of school age and composition boundaries is potentially an important aspect of developing a lifelong learning system.

Source: Matheson, 1999.

Malaysia’s training policy, mainly state-led, is heralded for its ability to rapidly adapt to the needs of industry as part of a deliberate strategy to attain “developed nation” status by the year 2020. Chile’s technical and vocational education and training reform emphasizes a partnership between the Government and the private sector as the pillar of a decentralized and market-oriented training system (Espinosa, 1998; Wong Yuk Kiong, 1998).

Some pathways explicitly involve strategic partnerships between education, training and employers. Cooperation between them has become a vital element in understanding and solving problems related to adapting the basic education and workplace competencies of young school-leavers and adjusting the existing workforce to workplace needs of the future. Joint enterprise and vocational institution programme development and delivery, assessment of competences and other desired outcomes, have emerged. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular need and can benefit from the expertise of professionals in specialized areas such as needs analysis, and are prepared to pay for programmes (“real” training or otherwise) which are tailored to the immediate and specific needs of the enterprise, delivered in a non-bureaucratic and accessible way (available in places and at times that suit the enterprise), and free of compliance costs. Employers’ requirements for responsiveness have also generated more private providers, considered more flexible and “customer” focused. The nature of contemporary employment and training policies is thus being redefined.

In many countries a range of private foundations or other organizations, often supported by industry, directly support educational initiatives to encourage social development and equity, mainly at the early stages and without expectation of return. Their projects frequently target the interface between national and long-term corporate interest by aiming to improve the quality and relevance of education. Many major United States companies are deeply committed to programmes of varied and innovative activities including organizing and sponsoring special workshops for students and teachers. The absence of a national vocational education and training “system” has led to local training networks filling the gap, based on a diversity of training partnerships that include local intermediary and public and private service providers and individual or groups of firms (Herschbach, 1998). In France, short courses are provided at the end of secondary lower school (about 14 years of age) which familiarize young people with selected occupations as part of a national attempt to strengthen school and enterprise links.

School/enterprise partnerships on the other hand do not appear to be common in countries with well-developed industrially oriented vocational training systems. In Japan, for example, technical and vocational training is an integral part of enterprise activities and the industrial work organization and as such is not questioned by third parties. Much off-the-job training in Germany is carried out in the Berufsschule on the employer's premises. A major role of the national network of Training Enterprise Councils (TECs) in the United Kingdom is to help identify and define a comprehensive, coherent structure of firm-led training programmes. Canadian post-employment training is the responsibility of federal and provincial governments. In 1985 most federal programmes were subsumed under the Canadian Jobs Strategy plan which now spends more than half its funding on the long-term unemployed but also provides funding for training institutions and income support for apprentices, opportunities for workers to upgrade and retrain, and improvements in basic skills and literacy training.

Curricula structure and delivery: Schools and universities adapt

Over the last decade, immense growth has occurred in the range of vocational type courses and modules available in secondary schools in many countries. As an example, the Higher Still programme in Scotland attempts to reduce to a minimum the gap between academic and vocational curricula at upper secondary level through effectively modularizing the entire upper secondary curriculum, creating multiple entry and exit levels, and allowing pupils to mix levels between subjects in a manner hitherto unknown, thereby providing more flexibility (Tchaban, 1998). Teachers themselves may constitute an obstacle to this approach because they do not always take the modular courses as seriously as they take “traditional” courses, despite groupings of particular modules carrying the same value for university entrance as do the “traditional” qualifications in the same domains. Moreover, managers are known to refer back to older style qualifications when they are unable to understand the modular courses.

An advantage of modular schemes is that they give learners the possibility to re-orient themselves if they have a change of heart. A similar initiative is the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program in Canada, which “gives students who are at least 16 years old and who have completed Grade 10 the opportunity to complete high school while working part-time as a registered apprentice” (Ontario, 1999). Further, students who find that they are not suited to the trades can return to the regular school programme with no penalty. The American School to Work Opportunities Program aims to improve career prospects, academic achievement in high schools, and eventually enrolment in post-secondary education through work experience programmes and work placements in such a manner that the learner can effectively have a foothold in both the world of work and in school (Haimson, Hershey and Silverberg, 1999).

Many developed countries increasingly face skills shortages. Attempts are being made to revitalize (or re-invent) apprenticeship systems and credible systems of vocational qualifications in the light of the need for flexible and adaptable workers. The apparent rigidity of some of the dual systems are being questioned and pathways considered for the misoriented as is the case in Austria where, in addition, schools are increasingly introducing vocational courses into the curriculum. However, this does not hold true everywhere and the academic-vocational divide is only slowly breaking down. Denmark is an example where two main traditions exist in parallel: the so-called “Latin school” in the form of a modern, general upper secondary education; and the “master-apprenticeship” principle, skilled worker level training in the form of a vocational training system based on the dual (twin-track) system (Nielsen, 1997).

Developing countries all too frequently still suffer from a colonial legacy whereby cerebral learning is automatically seen as superior to manual learning, regardless of the real employment and earnings potential (Matheson, 1996). In these contexts, the lack of parity and progression between the vocational and the academic carries the risk that lifelong learning will simply reinforce stratifications and divisions between learners.

Overcoming both teacher and employer reticence as to the value of alternative forms of learning delivery such as modules, or absence of terminal examinations in such schemes, can be assisted by organizations which unify the validation of both school-level qualifications and the majority of vocational qualifications, including the most advanced. In Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), formed through the merger of the former Scottish Examinations Board (school level) and the Scottish Vocational Education Council (principally vocational), is one such organization promoting the creation of a seamless qualifications ladder (SQA, 1999). Ireland, England and Wales also have single bodies for certifying school-based education and vocational training outside the universities. Finland has changed the upper secondary school and vocational qualifications to a non-graded competence-based system, with cooperation between vocational institutions and enterprises being strengthened.

A major trend in vocational education and training is the development of competency-based systems, mostly a government-promoted initiative in which industry is expected to be the key source of benchmark competencies. Standards of competence – workplace performance – in particular skill areas are becoming more internationally aligned, as countries share experiences and realize that portability and recognition of qualifications not only between institutions and occupations, but between nations, is becoming part of the new commerce of the information age (box 1.3). A standards-based framework offers: national recognition of employees’ skills – a highly motivating force in workplace learning; benchmarks for enterprise performance standards; recognition for enterprise training; and integration between institutional and workplace learning.

Furthermore, assessment of workplace competence is now carried out to some extent by people in the workplace, especially line managers, who not only have the technical skills and knowledge of the area of competence but are also trained as workplace assessors (in New Zealand’s industry training system, training of workplace assessors is paid for by enterprises). Employers and employees can therefore be involved in determining the standards, in training that leads to their achievement and in assessing performance at the workplace against the standards. Bringing training – both formal and informal – and subsequent recognition into line with industry skill requirements maximizes use of national resources and ensures that the cost of training is kept within reasonable limits. A common denominator is a qualifications-based approach.

Many of the countries in Asia and the Pacific have adopted an occupation-based approach to skill standards, or skill recognition, that has largely been established by government agencies. This approach is increasingly in need of review, as, with few exceptions, it suffers from low levels of acceptance from workers’ and employers’ organizations, covers only a small percentage of the workforce, and is extremely difficult to compare across countries. To remedy this, the ILO is assisting in developing new regional model skill standards using a workplace-based competency approach to skill recognition and training, not just certification, closely linked to the reform of national training systems.

Box 1.3.
Competency-based systems spread around the world

The Australian federal and state governments have pursued a nationally benchmarked competency-based system for Australian VET, leading to the present Australian National Training Authority. Competency was agreed: to have a specific definition based on knowledge and skill specification and their application to the standard of performance required in the workplace; to encompass requirements to perform individual tasks (task skills), manage a number of different tasks within the job (task management skills), respond to irregularities and breakdowns in routine (contingency management skills), and deal with the responsibilities and expectations of the work environment (job/role environment skills).

The development of a new qualifications framework in New Zealand and many other countries, based on required levels of workplace competence, is starting to impinge significantly on workplace learning. Moreover, New Zealand has worked closely with countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Samoa, Fiji and other Pacific island nations, and hosted northern hemisphere countries on study visits, to develop standards-based qualifications and training.

Elsewhere in Asia, national skills standards in Japan are developed by the Ministry of Labour in consultation with the tripartite Central Human Resource Development Council, consisting of employers, trade unions and educators. Malaysia’s occupational skill standards and certification system is driven by the National Vocational Training Council.

In Europe, approaches are quite varied: Denmark and Germany use skill standards systems elaborated by joint union/management bodies which rely on the apprenticeship system; a national advisory committee on education and the labour market has established a unified vocational education framework in the Netherlands.

In the Americas, Canada’s federal Government has pursued an outcomes-based system of portable qualifications based on bipartite (employer and union) sectoral councils. Chile has recently initiated a project leading to a National Competency Certification System with international support. The National Skills Standards Board in the United States has set a goal to have in place in 2000 a new voluntary system of skill standards, assessment and certification to cover about 40 per cent of the workforce.

Sources: Lewis, 1997; NZEF, 1997a; NSSB, 1999.

At the tertiary level, links between education and training operate in several ways. Programmes leading to the professions are most common, many of them “clinically” based, with part of the education in practising job placements such as internships in health and medicine, clinical law degrees and overseas study. New graduate careers in single or multidisciplinary areas – for example, paramedical studies, product design, business with languages, tourism and numerous information technology-based programmes mainly in the service sector – have proliferated. Universities have been required to increase their enrolments significantly and improve access. The private sector has also responded to unmet demand. This has had two major impacts on vocationally oriented education and training: as tertiary education is more readily available, fewer higher-calibre students follow the secondary vocational stream; and there has been an expansion in job-oriented undergraduate programmes – in many universities a bachelors degree is no longer seen as an employment ticket for life, but rather as a licence to hunt in all sectors.

In view of the fact that learning by individuals over a lifetime takes place in many settings – including schools, vocational education and training providers, universities, workplaces, community organizations, the home, and elsewhere – the use of flexible delivery methods is likely to grow. The opportunities for individuals to choose how they learn (for example, through mentoring and self-paced learning) makes the vocational education and training sector more responsive to the growing demand by employers for targeted training solutions (ILO, 1999a).

Flexible delivery allows a significant focus on, and improvement in, distance education and the effective harnessing of new technologies such as multimedia and Internet access. In many cases people will need access to learning resources and opportunities while engaged in productive work.

Gender issues

The educational gap between men and women has begun to close in a wide range of countries with women even beginning to overtake men according to some educational indicators, such as higher education enrolment ratios (OECD, 1998a; UNESCO, 1998a). While this change in educational investments may partially explain women’s relative progress in the labour market, it nevertheless highlights other factors which continue to underpin patterns of segregation and discrimination. Moreover, it fails to explain why women are now perceiving their likely returns on investments to be higher than in the past, in a context in which few countries have significantly increased their provision of child care or other direct services to facilitate women’s retention in the labour market.

A recent review of the relationship between women’s position in the labour market and education and training systems highlighted the following main points:

Specific policy measures and monitoring of training systems are needed to overcome these problems of inequality in access.

Adult and non-formal education and learning

This “Cinderella” nature of adult and non-formal education is as evident in developed countries as in developing ones (Dodds, 1994). Adult and non-formal education are very frequently seen as soft targets when budgets are being squeezed. Part of the problem is that adult education, especially in developed countries, is often perceived as non-essential. It may even be seen as a leisure, rather than an educational, activity (Matheson 1995).

Estimates of continual education and training participation rates of adults for 11 OECD countries show a variance ranging from 22 per cent or below (Belgium, Ireland and Poland) to over 40 per cent (New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States). The number of hours spent in training per year vary from under 140 to over 200. A relatively high correlation exists between job-related and all other forms of training in these countries. There is no appreciable gender gap in this form of training, but among the countries surveyed there are significant differences according to the following criteria:

One conclusion drawn from these patterns is that skill and income differentials are likely to be exacerbated rather than reduced. Although most of the barriers appear to be related to personal “situational” (lack of interest in course offerings, lack of time) rather than institutional barriers, up to 20 per cent of adults in some countries cited lack of money as their reason for not participating (OECD, 1998a). Overall, the survey suggests that serious attention needs to be paid to access issues if adult education and training is to be transformed into a more equitable component of the lifelong learning chain.

Comparable figures are not available for most non-OECD countries, but despite its low status, non-formal education appears to play a major role in the preparation of skilled workers throughout the developing world. ILO-commissioned research, for example in Senegal (ILO, 1998), has pointed to the important role that non-formal technical and vocational training plays in the preparation of the workforce – especially in the case of women – even where the trainees have to put up with extremely poor conditions.

In the developed countries the adult education and non-formal vocational training sectors are limited. In these countries, with a few exceptions, the “diploma disease”which values the acquisition of formal qualifications as an end in itself is rampant (Doré, 1976). Less and less attention seems to be paid to what an individual can actually do. The focus is rather on the possession of certificates which in effect demonstrate that at some point in the past he or she was capable of accomplishing a particular set of tasks. This leads to a static form of learning, criticized by educational philosophers such as Freire who rejected what he termed the “banking” concept of education wherein the teacher deposits knowledge in the learner’s head for the learner to then withdraw on the day of an examination. Redressing the situation may well require different organizational forms, some of which are explored in Chapter 2, as well as alternative financing approaches.

Financing education and lifelong learning

Educational investment and spending trends are reviewed in the appendix to this report. Aware of the need to finance the multiple aims of a balanced educational system – individual growth, the sharing of knowledge and culture, citizenship development, social cohesion and economic prosperity – and adopting a long-term perspective towards lifelong learning, the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century, set up by UNESCO, has advocated a standard of financing. This amounts to 6 per cent of gross national product (GNP) (Delors, 1996). The benchmark has been endorsed by ILO constituents (ILO, 1996c). This standard is far from being achieved in a large number of developing countries, particularly the least developed. There is a strong positive relationship, even if not universal, between government expenditure on education and the percentage of GNP that a country devotes to this policy choice. Governments which spend 10 per cent or less on education are invariably those countries which invest 3 per cent or less of national wealth to support education, whereas those with high government allocations, one-fifth to one-quarter, almost always devote 5 per cent or more of GNP to education. As countries attempt to move towards lifelong learning, the impact of under-investing will be increasingly felt.

The lack of investments in one of the components of national education systems relevant to this report – adult education – has long been apparent. International surveys (EFA, 1997) suggest that funding of this component is limited to say the least, ranging from less than 1 to 2 per cent of public sector funding in a majority of developing countries up to the mid-1990s, and rarely exceeding 3 per cent. If this is a harbinger of overall policy choices beyond schools and universities, it is not an encouraging sign.

Diversified funding: Public, private and partnerships

Increasing demand for education as more learners pursue higher levels and the need to broaden funding in the face of public sector resource limitations have prompted many countries to seek a greater partnership between public and private sources. Despite defence of the principle that education is primarily the responsibility of the State as a public service (ILO, 1996c; Recommendation, 1966), public funding is increasingly seen as providing only a part of educational investment, with the role of private funds from different sources growing so as to maximize learning access and quality (Delors, 1996; OECD, 1998a). As noted in the appendix, private sector funding can be a significant plus for some educational systems.

Alternatives that are increasingly utilized in national contexts vary the mix of funding sources according to educational levels. The introduction of limited vouchers (grants to families for use in financing private education) in the hope of encouraging greater school choice and enrolments has been tried with so far limited success. Some analysts have argued that past efforts to expand community participation in financing certain aspects have not been fully exhausted, provided that families and communities are given the opportunity to participate more fully in decisions related to how schools are run (Mehotra, Nigam and Tun Thet, 1996; UNICEF, 1999). Other policy options are noted in the appendix.

New financing approaches for higher education have sprouted in many countries during the past decade to cope with large enrolment and cost increases, and these may offer some policy options to fund lifelong learning. The imposition of student fee-paying requirements has become more generalized in OECD countries, often based on a cost-sharing arrangement between direct or indirect public sources (student loans, a fixed amount of core funding to institutions, payments from unemployment retraining funds) and private payments of students, their families, or employers. New tax incentives have recently emerged in some countries such as the United States which encourage pre-paid tuition plans on the part of families and employers. The growth in part-time day and returning older students at institutions has bolstered the percentage of their revenue derived from private payments, as has the increase in international exchange learners, all of which suggests that lifelong learning will have a strong private funding or government transfer component. The increase in fee-paying schemes on the other hand raises a major issue in all countries – that of ensuring equal access for low-income students – which often requires compensatory funding from public sources.

Greater direct investment by private enterprise to support skills development and to derive benefits from partnership arrangements is increasingly on the education agenda as noted above. One form this takes is support to institutions or to individuals in non-university settings such as the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system of Australia, further education colleges in the United Kingdom, and the decades-old community college systems of the United States. Partnerships such as the Enterprise in Higher Education Initiative of the United Kingdom draw on financial, human and material resources of both private and public partners. Employers are the primary source of funding for adult continual training (40-70 per cent in OECD countries surveyed) followed by individuals and families (OECD, 1998a and 1998c).

In the case of formal externally certificated training such as for apprentices, employers in most countries fund the training which occurs on the job (including the real costs of instruction, supervision and forgone production) while the State funds the costs of the off-job training. Apprentices contribute through their productivity and through earnings forgone (apprentice wages being lower). On the other hand, there is more resistance to imposing training levies on enterprises arising out of perceptions that employers undertrain, or that the workforce is insufficiently skilled/trained/qualified. Employers especially feel that training and related funding decisions are best made at the enterprise level.

Another idea gaining ground in the developed countries is that of “individual learning accounts” which grant learners a sum of money or study time entitlements equivalent to a certain number of educational years. The “capital”, to which individuals (and presumably others, for instance employers) could add, may then be drawn down from the depositing “bank” to be spent on what they perceive as their educational needs, particularly in the post-school years or throughout adult life (Delors, 1996). Though attractive as an egalitarian approach to providing learning opportunities, analysts such as Standish (1999) question how likely is it that those from the lowest socio-economic groups will avail themselves of such opportunities.

Variants of learning accounts studied in OECD countries (1996) include models based on “drawing rights”, educational entitlements (largely vouchers), and what is termed a “franchise model”. Drawing rights are based on an income transfer scheme to finance individuals’ work, education, leisure and retirement. The advantages of this system lie in flexibility, choice, incentives and comprehensiveness; however there are difficulties connected with cost application at tertiary levels, more extensive government legislative and financial roles and coordination between different government ministries. Education entitlements based on a voucher concept are highly contested for basic education because of their destabilizing effect on public schools and the long-term equity effects that might result. Models proposed for post-compulsory education have not fully resolved questions over the proper mix of grants and loans, bearing in mind the obstacles to access for lower income groups. A “franchise” model of financing, especially proposed to extend non-formal education, uses a section or layer concept based on a lump sum granted to individuals to cover education services and costs of living, with an individual’s share of the package increasing at higher levels.

Assuming that any of these arrangements will imply a substantial private involvement, be this on the part of individuals, families, employers or trade unions, etc., the crux of the matter will be to find the incentives encouraging greater private investment after basic schooling, while ensuring that public resources provide the foundations of learning (OECD, 1999a), as well as equal access to and use of learning credits – much as scholarship programmes undergird fee-paying schemes at present.

An answer to this may well come from other kinds of “learning banks”, such as the Grameen Bank (box 1.4), increasingly successful in certain developing countries.

Box 1.4.
The Grameen Bank’s approach to teaching and education

The Grameen Bank extends credit to those judged to be among the least creditworthy and its “borrowers make a commitment to a set of social priorities including education, sanitation, and family planning”. With its 94 per cent repayment rate and its increasing role in community development, including education, the Grameen Bank provides a lesson for breaking the cycle of poverty from which community developers in developed countries might well learn valuable lessons. Equally important in Grameen’s strategy is that so many of its borrowers are women. The transferability of Grameen’s approach is witnessed by the growth in micro-credit-based banks built around the Grameen model which now number over 150.

Source: Grameen Bank, 1999.

Teaching personnel

Access to and participation in lifelong learning will also depend on the numbers and quality of teaching and support personnel by level of school-based and other forms of education. Worldwide there has been a considerable slowdown in the rates of teacher recruitment in recent years (appendix, table 1). Whereas recruitment outpaced enrolment growth in the 1980s, the situation was reversed in the 1990s, quite significantly in early childhood (pre-primary) and secondary education, where enrolment growth outstripped increases in the number of teachers by four and two times respectively. All regions and economic levels have not been affected to the same extent. In early childhood education, developed countries in east Asia/Oceania and developing countries in southern Asia failed to hire teachers at a rate equal to enrolment surges. All other regions matched enrolment growth with equal or greater teacher recruitment (Europe declined in both, with the decrease in the growth of teachers slightly exceeding that of enrolments). In secondary education, changes in the numbers of teachers fell behind enrolment ratios in all regions except the Arab States (UNESCO, 1998a). Employment trends in education generally are reviewed in the appendix.

As the figures make clear, imbalances by region and socio-economic status of groups of countries are acute. A huge gap exists between the least developed countries (LDCs) and the most developed. Despite significantly higher teacher recruitment rates in the LDCs (appendix, tables 2 and 3), these countries suffer a cruel dearth of teachers in relation to enrolment demand. In those regions and countries where teacher recruitment fails to keep pace with enrolment growth, the resulting gaps would normally translate into increasing pupil/teacher ratios in pre-primary and secondary schools in the absence of compensating factors such as greater recourse to technological innovation (more difficult in developing countries) or the hiring of auxiliary, non-teaching personnel. These data admittedly do not take account of non-formal and informal educators unless they are categorized as teachers, considered unlikely since most educators in these categories operate in the post-school sector. Nevertheless, in terms of access to formal schooling as the basis for lifelong learning, the divide puts these developing countries in a vicious circle: the lack of teachers constitutes a factor in denial of access, encourages high rates of drop-outs (which also fuels a need for remedial, non-formal education) and perpetuates the learning failures which weigh heavily on nations’ ability to invest in human capital formation.

Demographic changes, both current and projected, significantly impact on increases or decreases in teaching staff as part of efforts to increase access to and participation in education. In the least developed countries the overall population growth between 1990-2000 was 2.5 per cent compared to 0.4 per cent in the developed countries. Over the same period, the population aged 0-24 (i.e. that upon which most education provision is focused) rose by 2.4 per cent in the least developed countries but fell by 0.5 per cent in the developed countries (UNESCO 1998a). Within the countries of the OECD and those taking part in the World Education Indicators, the percentage change in children aged 5-14 projected for 1996-2006 ranges from an increase of 15-20 per cent (Denmark) to a fall of 20-25 per cent (Ireland and Poland) (OECD 1998a). In other words, in many parts of the developing world, increases in teaching staff merely attenuate slightly the effects of the demographic increase, or fail to keep pace, while in some developed countries, access at present pupil-teacher ratios is more likely, with possible caveats for shortages provoked by the steady “greying” of the teaching profession (see Appendix 1), difficulties in recruitment in certain subject areas and policy changes with regard to school organization. These issues are explored in the next chapters.

Gender equity at learning sites:
Women and men teachers

Gender equality within the teaching profession is important inasmuch as it conditions to some extent access of girls to education (especially important in certain regions and cultures), as well as learning outcomes, though a positive relationship with the latter is far from being established scientifically. Moreover, it impacts significantly on the internal functioning of a system which is often predominantly female, not the least in terms of equality of opportunity and treatment, the satisfaction or dissatisfaction it creates, and the way learning is organized.

The ILO has periodically (1981, 1991a, 1996a) tracked the changing sexual composition of the teaching profession, noting over time the increasing feminization of teaching, especially at lower educational levels. Such trends are by no means universal (as yet) either in terms of geography or educational level, nor have they proceeded at the same pace everywhere. Nevertheless, UNESCO time series data (1998b) demonstrate that the numbers of women teachers and their percentage share of all teachers in every region and grouping of countries by economic level increased from 1980 to 1995. This tendency is more pronounced in non-OECD countries (Anker, 1998). The following salient points were noted up to the mid-1990s:

Some recent indicators and analyses in high-income countries (EURYDICE, 1999a; OECD, 1998a) have noted the continuing patterns by which the percentage of women teachers decreases at higher levels of education, as well as the wide variations among countries at secondary school level between the number of men and women teachers. For instance, the country means in European and other OECD countries, as shown in table 1.2, clearly demonstrate the overwhelming predominance of women at pre-primary, or early childhood, and primary education in all countries (Turkey is the only exception), a clear majority of women in lower secondary schools, parity in upper secondary general and a definite majority of men in secondary vocational schools. The country profiles are not significantly different in European countries which remain members of the EFTA/EEA group or in those seeking membership in the EU.


	Early childhood education	Primary education	Lower secondary education	Upper secondary education (general)	Upper secondary education (vocational)

EU	NA*	79	61	53	NA*
OECD	95	75	57	50	42
* NA: Not available. Sources: EURYDICE, 1999a; OECD, 1998a.

At the same time, at the level of lower secondary education, certain countries deviate significantly from these general patterns. The percentage of women at this level is already a minority in Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland in addition to Turkey. By upper secondary general, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, Norway and Spain have joined this group, and in secondary vocational schools, only the Czech Republic, Finland and Hungary exhibit a slight majority of women as a percentage of instructional staff. At secondary levels, moreover, a number of these countries have a very low percentage of women teachers, varying between one-quarter to one-third of all staff.

As a result, although a saturation point seems to have been reached in early childhood and primary education, the feminization of the teaching profession does not, according to some observers, appear significant at secondary level. However, this report contends that time series data point to the opposite tendency – to the steady progression in the percentage of female staff even at secondary level. These tendencies are likely to be accentuated by the steadily rising percentage of women graduating from secondary and higher education compared to men, and their concentration not only in teacher training but in humanities and arts which translate more easily into teaching careers. Unless teacher education, recruitment and most probably employment and working condition policies change in the next few years, it is highly likely that the prevailing feminization of teaching at primary level will be reproduced at secondary level within a generation at most in most regions and countries, followed at some point in the next century by a similar pattern in tertiary education. Such an evolution is least likely to be borne out, or to be much slower to develop, in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa, certain parts of Latin America and southern Asia.

[1] ILO: Note on the Proceedings, Joint Meeting on the Impact of Structural Adjustment on Educational Personnel, Geneva, 1996 (JMEP/1996/12).

[2] The following countries would be invited initially, on the strength of the criteria established by the Governing Body for invitations to sectoral meetings, and the expressed wish to attend this meeting as communicated to the ILO: Algeria, Chile, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Jordan, Namibia, Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela. In the event that one of the countries declined or was unable to attend, a reserve list was established consisting of the following countries: Albania, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, Comoros, Croatia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Finland, France, Hungary, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mauritius, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Tajikistan, Togo and the United Arab Emirates.

[3] The ILO estimates that there are some 250 million working children between the ages of 5 and 14, of which some 120 million are full-time child labourers, many in hazardous work. These figures are exclusive of children who are engaged in regular non-economic activities, including domestic work on a full-time basis in their own parents’ or guardians’ households (ILO, 1998b).

[4] Though there is no general agreement as to what constitutes being able to read, UNESCO defines adult illiteracy as the percentage of the population aged 15 years and over who cannot read, write and understand a short, simple statement in his/her everyday life (UNESCO, 1998a).

Lifelong Learning in the Twenty-First Century:
The Changing Roles of Educational Personnel

Report for discussion at the Joint Meeting on Lifelong Learning in the Twenty-first Century:
The Changing Roles of Educational Personnel

Part 1

Contents

Acknowledgements and sources