35. What is a national training system?

The answer should be divided into two parts: the first one offers a conceptual view of “training system” and the second one refers to competency-based training.

The concept of: “system”

The term system is often used in different areas such as that of vocational training. The most common way is through the promotion of institutional structures to which we refer to as “systems”.

The first reference we should look at when creating this kind of organisation is the theory of systems, according to which the effect obtained by means of the interaction among structured parts of a system implies that the whole is greater

According to the theory of systems, organisations are structures made up by components (sub-systems) with specialised duties and which work integrated in a harmonious way. This approach offers the grounds to explain the success or failure of an organisation due to, for instance, an inadequate interaction between parts. In accordance with this theory, an organisation is a social system in charge of fulfilling a particular purpose. In order to do this, the organisation has several specialised bodies which are “systemically” integrated and which make up a collection capable of achieving better results than the ones that would be obtained by working separately.

than the simple total number of parts. This effect is known as the holistic property or synergy.

For the supporters of this theory, systems are living things, machines, and in general any arrangement that complies with the above mentioned result known as holism or synergy.

During the 60s, the so-called Theory of systems was widely used in the field of theories of organisation. The theories about how organisations work were originated when Taylor and Fayol attempted to explain the fundamental principles that regulated business organisations and led them to a higher productivity thus creating the so-called Scientific Management.

In fact, a system represents a visible characteristic of how organisations work rather than a substantial concept. A systemic organisation is perfectly articulated; the antithesis of a hierarchical and segmented organisation where communications are slow and the structure is rigid. An organisation may be understood and managed as a system but creating a “system” in order to substitute it for an organisation is conceptually mistaken.

A national training system

A vocational training system is an organisational arrangement in which several actors are combined with training offers which are coordinated as to their relevance, contents, level and quality; in such a way, as a whole, they achieve a greater effect in the development of labour abilities of workers than they would if they acted separately. We refer to a standardised system when the system agrees with the use of labour competency standards in order to set the grounds for the drawing up of programmes, training, assessment and certification.

Training systems do not necessarily imply the creation of new institutions; in fact, it represents a mechanism which joins, articulates and regulates the multiple offers and levels of quality that exist.

In this case, the State plays a fundamental role by becoming a promoter and facilitator of the rules of the game for the system and reserving the power for the definition of policies and guidelines before actually taking part in the implementation of actions. One of the main objectives of public administration is ensuring that the training market works adequately.(1)

It is possible to distinguish three levels within a training system. The political level, represented by a management body; the executive level, made up by sectoral body representatives of production and services; and an operational level constituted by training institutions, certifying bodies and assessment centres.

A vocational training system needs a management level in charge of setting policies and defining scopes, priorities and resources allocation. This management level is usually a participation scenario in which workers, employers and the government establish the “rules of the game” which are later approved by legal standards. The management board establishes how the system is made up and the officers are in charge of training, assessing and certifying. The participation of the State is really desirable since it is an excellent opportunity to regulate aspects such as access, fairness, quality and transparency.

Its tasks are oriented to the creation of conditions and general rules regarding how the system works. The main prevailing objective should be improving competitiveness by training workers. This level usually becomes a Board of Directors with representatives from entrepreneurs, workers and the government.

It is advisable that the management level is made up by the highest representatives from entrepreneurs (associations or chambers), workers (trade unions) and the government (ministries). This guarantees that it will still be oriented towards the creation of policy frameworks and consensus promotion.

The system also requires a sectoral level which should generally be involved in determining training needs, drawing up occupational descriptions which could later be developed as competency standards and coordinating training actions for a specific economic sector. This level is perfect for the participation of entrepreneurial chambers or associations and sectoral trade unions (for example, leather, footwear, plastic, paper, trade, building and hotel industry, etc.) as it results in a better organisation of the definition of competency, training and certification standards. A tripartite representation is also desirable; in this way, the interaction developed can approach the needs of specific economic sectors and/or particular geographic areas in a better way.

The bodies of the sectoral level define labour competency profiles for the specific occupations of each sector. These profiles become competency standards if they are adopted by common agreement for training, assessment and certification processes; they create a common language among entrepreneurs, workers and training institutions.

Activities for the identification of competencies are carried out under their coordination by means of the already existing systems (Functional Analysis, DACUM, AMOD, SCID). Therefore, they have the advantage of establishing the required competencies directly with the enterprises that belong to the corresponding occupational sector, and thus the standardisation process is developed.

In order to establish competencies in an appropriate way, this sectoral representation guarantees a greater participation of entrepreneurs and workers in occupational analysis and in the definition of training contents.

A third level is in charge of operations; three key activities for the system are carried out at this level: training, competency assessment and certification.

The operational level has clearly defined inputs which are guaranteed by sectoral bodies, such as: competency standards, efficiency and quality indicators, methodologies of quality accreditation, clear certification criteria and a cost or price system which can be complemented with subsidies that may facilitate the access of groups at risk of exclusion.

The concept of certification is also shaped at the operational level; one of the main decisions in the design of systems refers to what can be certified and what is certified.(2) In general, training institutions give great importance to the recognition of competencies of workers; and that is in fact the main value given by participants since a clear competency certification system facilities labour mobility and, therefore, employability.

In fact, there is not a unique and better formula for the organisation of training institutionality. They all have in common the search for better quality, coverage and relevance; and of course, there are different ways of achieving such ideals. If we look at the institutionalisation carried out in different countries, which are many times taken as stimulating models, it is important to consider that such institutionality is the result of culturally accepted practices within the educational and training scope.(3)

It is also important to consider that recent reorganisations and worries about training systems are derived from national diagnoses which have revealed some of the following aspects:

an increase in training offers of different quality and little coordination among themselves and with national objectives;

an inappropriate relationship between the training offer and economic needs, expressed in the demand for trained workers;

a loss or low level of competitiveness of the economy, often expressed in low levels of training and poor productivity performance;

signs of exhaustion in training systems currently being used.

The orientation towards results of a training system is so crucial that certification should allow and encourage building up mechanisms in order to prove the competencies of workers, no matter how these were acquired. It is therefore possible to include self-learning processes, labour experience as a creator of competencies and flexibility in training actions.

These three levels of a training system are coordinated and work with articulated objectives and plans. Their autonomy is given at an operational level by the joined definition of needs and actions. In any case, they work in environments where the rules and the quality, relevance and improvement of access conditions are known and clearly dealt with. In short, it is a setting where “everybody plays the same notes”.(4)

 

 

 

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1 Hassan, Abrar, Evolución de los mercados de trabajo y la política de educación y formación, CEDEFOP, in Revista de Formación Profesional, 1994.
2 In fact, institutional structures will depend on the preferences of each country (for instance, regarding the separation of training from assessment).
3 This part was developed based on: “Cuatro afirmaciones sobre certificación. Todas falsas”, Cinterfor/ILO’s Bulletin, Nº153, 2002.
4 Irigoin, María; Vargas, Fernando, Competencia Laboral. Manual de conceptos, métodos y aplicaciones en el sector salud, Montevideo, OPS-Cinterfor/ILO, 2002.

 

 

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