Vocational training and economic mobility
Vocational education can enhance youth employment and income while driving systemic change in education systems. A research project co-hosted by D-MTEC’s Chair of Education Systems revealed that robust social institutions, effective collaboration between schools and employers, and long-term reforms are essential for a lasting impact of vocational training.
The LELAM-TVET4Income project was launched in 2017 to explore how Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) can improve youth income. “The motivation for this project stemmed from a desire to enhance human capital in developing countries and to help young people secure better jobs and appropriate incomes,” says Professor Ursula Renold from the D-MTEC Chair of Education Systems, which co-hosted the project. Funded by the SNSF and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the initiative brought together institutions from Switzerland, Benin, Costa Rica, Nepal, and Chile.
“Education systems often serve only a minority of the population effectively, lacking meaningful collaboration with economic stakeholders,” says Renold. “Moreover, there is a significant gap in knowledge regarding how to successfully implement educational reforms to ensure improved outcomes for all. The project sought to bridge this gap and create pathways for sustainable and inclusive progress.”
Research insights
The project concluded in May 2024 after seven years of research, outreach, and implementation efforts. It provided several insights into the relationship between vocational education and youth employment.
The research team developed a comprehensive evaluation framework for social institutions within TVET programmes. This tool enables a deeper understanding of how TVET systems work, it allows for cross-contextual comparisons, and it serves as a platform for future research.
“The social institutions of education programmes were central to our research. We wanted to know how well-embedded the TVET programmes are in their respective environments. That is how well they function, if they have a strong culture and a clear structure, and how they can react when things go wrong,” explains Dr Patrick McDonald, who coordinated the project. “In the three countries we investigated, the TVET programmes are quite robust. This was a little surprising to us; in a good way, because these programmes are often new or have not received much attention from policymakers in the past.”
The researchers also collected large employment datasets for youth and compiled them in a catalogue. The collection includes macro-level data for insights into labour market trends and survey data that track education-to-employment pathways.
Furthermore, TVET programmes with strong employer involvement and formal qualification components exhibited better labour market connections overall.
Fostering long-term change
The project also involved implementation and outreach activities to translate the findings into practical reforms by supporting institutional reforms and launching initiatives designed to build the capacity and engagement of local stakeholders. These include the vocational education observatory in Costa Rica, a TVET Master’s programme in Nepal, and Benin’s annual TVET Week.
This is paying off, McDonald says: “Each time we visited, awareness seemed a little higher, interest a little greater, knowledge a little stronger. That’s a really exciting development!”
To share research findings and best practices, the research consortium also established a global network of TVET stakeholders. Thanks to participation at the CEMETS Summer Institutes, reform leaders learned data-driven strategies and leadership skills for vocational education reforms tailored to their countries’ needs.
These initiatives, along with other collaborative efforts, have laid the groundwork for future reforms and contributed to the exchange of knowledge between countries. “We have already begun follow-up projects in Nepal and Costa Rica,” McDonald says. “In Nepal, we are supporting a project to improve the quality of vocational education through school accreditation procedures. We have also developed CEMETS iLab Nepal, where education and business leaders from around the country can present a reform case. In Costa Rica, we have just started another project to follow up on the various initiatives and see what kind of impact they are having on the ground.”
