Hans Krönner: International Standards in Technical and Vocational Education and TrainingPage 1

ADB InstituteKRIVET

International Workshop on Workforce Development for the Knowledge Economy

7-13 September 2005, Seoul, Republic of Korea

International Standards
in Technical and Vocational Education and Training

by Hans Krönner, former UNESCO-UNEVOC staff

Version of 03 September 2005

Abstract

Globalization of national economies as well as globalization of knowledge require the knowledge worker to be aware of international standards. This is not only the case with respect to the design, production, marketing and distribution of goods and services. For the promotion of workforce development, it is equally essential to be aware of internationally agreed standards for technical and vocational education and training. Such standards serve, inter alia, to ensure a proper balance between the economic dimension of education and training on the one hand, and personal, social and human development on the other hand.

At the international level, two UN agencies have a particular mandate in this area: the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Normative instruments of these two organizationsrelated to workforce development for the knowledge economy are being presented. To complete the scope, reference is made to standards set by the UN General Assembly, but also to examples of standards that have emerged from public-private partnerships at the international level.

Finally, suggestions are made how to benefit from such international standards for the development of national systems of TVET.

1Introduction
2Scope of standards
3Sources of international standards
3.1The United Nations system
3.1.1United Nations General Assembly
3.1.2The UN Specialized Agencies
3.2Private sector and civil society involvement
3.2.1The Code of Ethics for Tourism
3.2.2The Global Compact
3.3Retrieving more standards
4Legal basis and monitoring
4.1ILO
4.2UNESCO
4.3Global Compact
5Utilizing international standards for action planning

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Hans Krönner: International Standards in Technical and Vocational Education and TrainingPage 1

International Standards
in Technical and Vocational Education and Training

by Hans Krönner, former UNESCO-UNEVOC staff

1Introduction

According to a study on "knowledge, work organisation and economic growth" published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), "…occupations can then be categorized into two main groups: non-information and information occupations (or workers), the latter being divided into two sub-categories, namely those manipulating information (data workers) and those generating ideas (knowledge workers)"(OECD 2001 para 23).

In order to be able to generate ideas, the "knowledge worker" – no matter whether in industry, in a training institution, or in a ministry of education – needs to have information at hand, to know about existing international standards, and make the appropriate judgments about their application in their specific context.

What do we refer to as "international standards" in the context of this paper?

We will be dealing with international standards that relate to technical and vocational education and training (TVET), also referred to as "normative instruments", that typically occur under titles such as Convention, Recommendation, Declaration, Charter, Code or Principles.

We address standards that have been agreed upon by the international community, and that have been developed jointly with the objective in mind that Member States are expected to apply and implement them in their national policies and legislations.

We will see later that such standards may be developed

  • by governments in intergovernmental organizations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
  • by organizations that have both public and private constituencies, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), but also
  • in international public-private partnerships such as the Global Compact initiated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

These standards are being developed along a variety of procedures, and their legal quality can vary widely.

We will not coverinternational technical standards such as units, symbols, statistical definitions, and technical standards applied in industry, commerce and other sectors of the economy. Although they have their relevance for content and curricula in TVET, they are not in focus for the purpose of this paper.

2Scope of standards

What do such international standards cover in substance? While our immediate attention goes to education and training, we have to keep in mind that TVET is not only a preparation for work, but that it is frequently delivered at the workplace itself. Thus, we cannot confine our considerations to the education and training process in a narrow sense, but we need to take the workplace and work environment into account as well.

Thus, the standards that we want to deal with may cover a broad range of issues, such as:

  • Access to education and training
  • Education and training objectives
  • Relationship of education, training and work
  • Safety and health at the workplace
  • Labor standards
  • Economical, ecological and social dimensions of work
  • Ethical aspects
  • Human Rights.

3Sources of international standards

As explained, international standards can have various origins, ranging from intergovernmental organizations to international public-private partnerships. Let us start with international agencies.

3.1The United Nations system

3.1.1United Nations General Assembly

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations" (UN 1948, Preamble). Its Article 26 refers to education:

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (UN 1948, Article 26,1)

The Declaration thus makes a difference between "elementary education" that shall be "compulsory", "technical and professional education" that shall be made "generally available", and "higher education" shall be accessible "on the basis of merit" only. In other words, the UN Declaration stipulates that everybody who wants to receive technical and professional education should be given the opportunity.

Other standard-setting instruments have been adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, among the later ones for example the "Convention on the Rights of the Child" (1989) which touches on education, training and preparation for employment for disabled children (UN1989Article 23,2).

Given the wide scope of international standards set by the General Assembly of the United Nations, we will not elaborate further. Instead, we will turn to the relevant Specialized Agencies in the United Nations system.

3.1.2The UN Specialized Agencies

TwoUnited Nations Specialized Agencies have major mandates in technical and vocational education and training: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Other organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) do have mandates in education and training that are restricted to their particular fields of work.

UNESCO and ILO have adopted a range of international standards – mainly conventions and recommendations – that relate to TVET and to the workplace.

It is important to understand the different perspectives from which UNESCO and ILO engage in TVET. Their division of labor is not easy to grasp. Back in 1954, the two agencies described it as follows:

"The ILO is primarily concerned with technical and vocational education and training in relation to occupational activities and welfare of workers. UNESCO is primarily concerned with technical and vocational education as part of the education of human beings equipped to live in a society dependent upon technological development. In general the word "training" is likely to invoke the concern of the ILO whereas the word "education" is likely to invoke the concern of UNESCO.
The Major Interest of the ILO
The practical impartingof specific skills relating to a given occupation or given occupations by means of apprenticeship or other forms of traininginfactories, workshops or special centres or institutions is primarily a matter for the ILO, subject to consultation with UNESCO on any general education questions which may arise.
The Major Interest of UNESCO
Technical and vocational education which takes place within ageneral educational system is primarily a matter for UNESCO, subject to consultation with the ILO concerning the prospective demand for particular skills and the requirements to be fulfilled in respect of such skills. (UNESCOILO 1954).

It was here in Seoul on 26 April 1999, when a keynote speaker at UNESCO’s Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education requested "…that we stop talkingdifferent things about what should be the same thing, and stop insisting that UNESCO’s role isvocational education, while ILO’s role is vocational training. This is not role splitting, but ratherhair splitting!" (AlMasri1999,p.9)

Convention
on
TechnicalandVocational Education
Article2 (1) / Recommendation 195
concerning
Human Resources Development: Education, Training and Lifelong Learning
Article1 (3)
The Contracting States agree to frame policies, to define strategies and to implement … programmes and curricula for technical and vocational education designed for young people and adults, within the framework of their respective education systems, in order to enable them to acquire the knowledge and know-how that are essential to economic and social development as well as to the personal and cultural fulfilment of the individual in society. / Members should identify human resources development, education, training and lifelong learning policies which … facilitate lifelong learning and employability as part of a range of policy measures designed to create decent jobs, as well as to achieve sustainable economic and social development

When examining the normative instruments of the two organizations with respect to TVET, it is important to note that both UNESCO and ILO have mandates in TVET, but that their backgrounds and approaches are different. While UNESCO focuses on TVET in the contracting states “within the framework of their respective education systems", the ILO refers to “employability", "decent jobs" and "economic and social development”.

Thus, letting aside the agreement of 1954, which I believe is no longer reflecting contemporary approaches to education, training learning, one might state that both organizations deal with the same matter - technical and vocational education and training -, but from two distinctly different perspectives.

UNESCO

The main instruments adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the area of TVET are:

  • The Convention on Technical and Vocational Education (adopted in 1989); and
  • The Revised Recommendation Concerning Technical and Vocational Education (adopted in 2001), in which technical and vocational education is explicitly understood as “… an instrument for promoting environmentally sound sustainable…” (UNESCO, 2001).

Both documents can be considered as cross-cutting rather than addressing specific areas of technical and vocational education and training and work.

This paper does not provide room for an exhaustive presentation of the content of the UNESCO Convention and Recommendation. The full text in all six official UNESCO languages is available in the documentation that has been provided for each participant. However, a summary presentation of their outlines might illustrate their coverage in substance:

UNESCO’s Convention on Technical and Vocational Education (1989)
  1. Scope
    a) Definition of TVE
    b) Application to forms. levels and providers of TVE
    c) Relation to national legislation
  2. Objectives of TVE
    1. Objectives
    2. General framework
    3. Access
    4. Handicapped and disadvantaged groups
  3. Content and Structures of TVE
    1. Content
    2. Framework and structures
    3. General education, sustainable development
    4. Support for providers outside educational institutions
    5. Definition of competences and updating of curricula
    6. Assessment and recognition of learning at the workplace
  4. Periodic review of structures, programmes and methods of delivery
  5. Personnel
    1. Qualification
    2. Updating
    Employment opportunities
  6. International co-operation
    (a) Exchange of experiences
    (b) Use of international technical standards
    (c) Recognition of equivalencies of qualifications
    (d) International exchange of personnel
    (e) Students from other countries
    (f) Co-operation between countries
    (g) Mobilization of resources
The remaining articles of the Convention are of legal, technical or procedural nature:
  1. Periodic country reporting to the General Conference of UNESCO
  2. Application of the Convention in countries with federal constitutions
  3. to 15. Procedures for accession and ratification; legal matters[1]

UNESCO’s Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education (2001)
  1. Scope
  2. TVE in relation to the educational process: objectives
  3. Policy, planning and administration
  4. Technical and vocational aspects of general education
  5. TVE as preparation for an occupational field
    o Organization
    o Programme content
  6. TVE as continuing education
  7. Guidance
  8. The learning process
  9. Staff
    o Teaching staff
    o Administrative and guidance staff
  10. International cooperation

Several other standards adopted by UNESCO cover education as well, e.g. the "Convention against Discrimination in Education" (1960); however, the above Convention and Recommendationare the only ones targeting TVET (not taking in to account earlier versions of the Recommendation of 1962 and 1974 that have been revised later on).

ILO

As explained, UNESCO and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are the two UN Agencies with broad mandates in TVET. Consequently, not only UNESCO but also the ILO has developed normative instruments, conventions and recommendations that are relevant for knowledge workers in the area of TVET.

When comparing ILO and UNESCO standards, two essential differences should be recalled:

(1)While the focus of UNESCO is on education systems the ILO looks at matters from an employment and labor market perspective.

(2)While both UNESCO and ILO are intergovernmental organizations the membership of which is states, the ILO has a particular tripartite structure, with workers and employers participating as equal partners with governments in the work of its governing bodies.

The ILO formulates international standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations not only for TVET, but likewise for of basic labor rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labor, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues.

Over the years, the ILO has adopted several hundred conventions and recommendations. We will look into the most recent one that covers TVET.

The Recommendation concerning Human Resources Development

The full title is "Recommendation concerning Human Resources Development: Education, Training and Lifelong Learning" (Recommendation R195). It covers the following areas:

Recommendation concerning Human Resources Development:
Education, Training and Lifelong Learning
  1. Objective, scope and definition
  2. Development and Implementation of training policies
  3. Education and pre-employment training
  4. Development of competencies
  5. Training for decent work and social inclusion
  6. Framework for recognition and certification of skills
  7. Training providers
  8. Career guidance and training support services
  9. Research in human resources development, education, training and lifelong learning
  10. International and technical cooperation
  11. Final provision

Other related standards adopted by the ILO are the following:

  • Convention 122: Employment Policy Convention, 1964
  • Recommendation 122: Employment Policy Recommendation, 1964
  • Convention 140: Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974
  • Recommendation 148: Paid Educational Leave Recommendation, 1974
  • Convention 142: Human Resources Development Convention, 1975
  • Recommendation169: Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions), 1984

For the concerns of disabled persons, the following standards adopted by the ILO are of particular interest:

  • Recommendation 99: Vocational Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 1955
  • Convention 159: Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), 1983
  • Recommendation 168: Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons), 1988

There are many more ILO conventions and recommendations that include elements relating to TVET and the workplace, although they primarily address other specific such as mining, agriculture or seafare.

Full access to the whole range of standards is provided on the ILO website:

3.2Private sector and civil society involvement

As we have noted with respect to the ILO, the adoption of international standards relevant to TVET is not a monopoly of governments represented in international organizations. It occurs likewise in partnership between the United Nations and its specialized agencies in direct cooperation with the private sector and civil society. We will look into two examples:

  • the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism adopted by the Word Tourism Organization (WTO) andendorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, and
  • The Global Compact of the United Nations.

3.2.1The Code of Ethics for Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (WTO/OMT)[2], a specialized agency of the United Nations, serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues and as a source of tourism know-how.In 2005, the WTO's membership is comprised of 145 countries, seven territories and more than 300 Affiliate Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations and local tourism authorities.

In 1999, the WTO General Assembly, which brings together senior tourism officials and high-level representatives of the private sector from all over the world, approved the "Global Code of Ethics for Tourism" (WTO 1999), which has subsequently been endorsed officially by the General Assembly of the United Nations (United Nations 2001).

This Global Code stipulates obligations and rights of tourists as well as of professionals and entrepreneurs engaged in this area, including "the right and the duty…" of salaried and self-employed workers in the tourism industry "…to acquire appropriate initial and continuous training" (WTO 1999 Article 9,2)

This is but one example of one particular branch of economy. Knowledge workers will certainly find conventions, recommendations, codes and similar documents that relate to their particular area of professional activity (see section "Retrieving more standards" further below).

3.2.2The Global Compact

The Global Compact was initiated by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the World Economic Forum in 1999. It brings companies together with UN agencies, with labor and with civil society to support ten principles in the areas of human rights, labor and the environment:

The Ten Principles of the Global Compact
The Global Compact's ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption enjoy universal consensus are derived from:
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • The International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
  • The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
  • The United NationsConvention against Corruption.
The Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards and the environment. The principles are as follows:
Human Rights
Principle 1:Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2:make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour Standards
Principle 3:Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Principle 4:the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
Principle 5:the effective abolition of child labour; and
Principle 6:the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Environment
Principle 7:Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
Principle 8:undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
Principle 9:encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies
Anti-Corruption
Principle 10:Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery.
(UN 1999; Principle 10 added later)

While, at a first glance, these principles refer to business activities and to the world of work in general, it is obvious that they need to be implanted in TVET curricula, some of them even in general education.