Modernization in Vocational Education and Training in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region

IV. By way of conclusion

1. The transformations that have taken place in recent decades in the field of training in Latin America and the Caribbean have involved both the concept of training itself and the organisational forms it assumes. They have affected the financing schemes of training activities, their links with labour systems, innovation, development and technological transfer systems, regular education and the various players that take part in their design, management, funding and implementation.
2. The concept of vocational training seen as the orderly and systematic transmission of knowledge, abilities and skills to trainees during a certain period, normally before their active life, in order to qualify them to perform in specific work posts, has undergone deep modifications.
3. At present, the various national experiences point to a concept of training as a permanent adjunct in a lifelong process. It is addressed not only at the operational levels of occupational structures, but conceived as a vertical offer by productive sectors or technological areas. Rather than a bundle of skills, knowledge and abilities to perform in a specific work post, it is considered as a series of competencies of different levels enabling individuals to deal with a variety of jobs, occupations, labour situations and work posts. Rather than functional "coaching" within a scheme of labour division that made a clear-cut distinction between conception and implementation, it is viewed as the overall education of persons both as workers and citizens.
4. The institutionality or organisational forms of vocational training have also undergone deep changes and witnessed many innovations. From a relatively homogeneous picture throughout the region, with a strong presence of national institutions that monopolised the bulk of vocational training activities, we have now passed to a scenario of widely diverging organisational arrangements.
5. Side by side with the model represented by large national or sectoral training bodies, public or private in nature, Ministries of Labour have appeared on the scene as leading players, introducing a new logic in relation to the role of the State regarding vocational training policies and systems. Both workers’ and employers’ organisations also have a more active part in training, either managing or co-managing institutes, taking part in new tripartite or bipartite arrangements at national, sectoral or local level. As opposed to what happened in the past, many countries have seen a sprouting offer of training services in private and non-governmental areas, strongly supported by a new batch of public policies in the field. A veritable training market has been developing and expanding.
6. The financing of vocational training has also undergone a great diversification. Whereas in the past there were only two basic funding schemes, namely taxes or levies with a specific end or appropriations from the general budget of the Nation, at present those same mechanisms coexist with a wide range of provisions, incentives and tax rebates, the sale of consultant services, technical assistance, certification, etc. as well as alliances for co-operation and complementation of resources, and so forth.
7. Although vocational training has always been closely linked to the world of labour and production, its high visibility within labour relations is relatively recent. This becomes apparent, for example, in the expansion and more specific nature of labour legislation relating to vocational training; the incorporation of training clauses in collective bargaining and, in a more general way, the importance attached to the matter in various areas of social dialogue at the level of firms and sectors, locally or nation wide, and in regional integration processes. Another indication of this new "labour slant" of vocational training is the central position it has acquired in the agendas of Labour Ministries, trade unions and entrepreneurial chambers.

   From a notion of training as a supplementary field of activity, divorced from technological innovation and development, the various country experiences are now shifting to close integration of the activities of both realms. Without losing sight of its essential mission, some institutions include training within the overall framework of the needs of firms, sectors or productive chains. This has led to the development of new services, such as consultancy and technical assistance, applied research, technological information, etc., side by side with the training itself. The result is not only a more complete offer of services but also an incentive for the technological upgrading of the infrastructures, equipment, methods and contents of vocational training.

8. With some exceptions, vocational training grew in the region as a separate system from regular education schemes. Although theoretically complementary to each other, they showed in reality a disparity of objectives, little co-ordination between themselves and very often different sets of social values. Both systems have had to face crises and criticisms. Nevertheless, co-ordination efforts have been made, and they have shared common subjects and debates that are leading to a coming together in the search for greater complementation of resources, experience and knowledge. The objective that seems to beckon is the building up of national permanent education / training systems, capable of meeting a growing, diverse and dynamic demand.
9. In many countries of the region vocational training is witnessing decentralisation processes that open up the field to more players than in the past. Regarding the execution of training activities there is nowadays a wider and more diverse scenario. Despite the fact that it is sometimes threatened by a risk of fragmentation and scattering of efforts and resources, training now has the possibility of attracting more actors within the framework of a national effort. But also in connection with decision-making and management, opportunities and tripartite openings have arisen through Labour Ministries, local and sectoral arrangements, bipartite agreements, dialogue and regional integration. Those are some of the novelties in this area.
10. Trade unions have approached training not only vindicating the right of workers to it, but also trying to take part in it and negotiate its conditions. Furthermore, they have endeavoured to link training to aspects such as employment, wages, working conditions, occupational health and careers.
11. Employers’ organisations, for their part, have assumed that training is a key factor in strategies to raise productivity and increase competitiveness. They have consequently sought to play a more central role in the management and delivery of training, apart from taking part in negotiations about it.
12. The private training and vocational education offer, that was formerly scant as compared to the scope of national training bodies, has now grown enormously in most countries. This development seems to be favoured on the one hand by the social and economic value newly ascribed to training, and on the other by the incentives provided by recent public policies in the matter.
13. Experiences in local management of vocational training are still incipient, but they constitute a promising ground for innovation, regarding both the incorporation of new players and resources and the elaboration of new forms of meeting social and productive needs within the framework of local development schemes.
14. The countries of the region are therefore faced with an impressive challenge, i.e. the collective and negotiated erection of national (eventually supra-national) lifelong education and training systems. Such systems need to be versatile enough to meet a diverse, growing and dynamic demand, in consonance with the economic, social and political development objectives of societies of the region.

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