PROTOCOL: Post‐basic Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Interventions to Improve Employability and Employment of TVET Graduates in Low‐ and Middle‐income Countries

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, both developed and developing nations are faced with the demands of a rapidly changing, more globally competitive world. Major forces are driving change in the world of work, including advances in information and communication technology (ICT), the introduction of new manufacturing processes, increased economic integration between countries and increased competition due to trade liberalisation. The impact of economic globalisation has been uneven, however. Whilst some developing countries, particularly China and India, have considerably improved their standing in the global economy, many non-globalising developing countries have fared much worse; many seeing an expansion of the informal economy, characterised by a reliance on unskilled work, combined with stagnation in the formal economy. Recent development progress in education means there are more skilled workers in the world than available prospects. Simultaneously, global unemployment is on the increase. Recent shocks provoked by the international financial crisis exposed severe weaknesses within the global economic system which rapidly spread to the employment sector, triggering a global jobs crisis. The global economy has substantially reduced its capacity to add new jobs. Youth have been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis. The youth unemployment rate rose sharply during this period, from 11.6 to 12.7 per cent, and, in the absence of economic growth and development, this pattern is likely to continue (ILO, 2011). In 2011, 74.8 million youth aged 15–24 were unemployed; globally, young people are nearly three times as likely as adults to be unemployed (ILO, 2012). There is significant regional variation in youth unemployment. Countries of the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Latin America are particularly affected (UN, 2012; UN/DESA, 2011). Furthermore, worldwide, many young people are underemployed (in part-time, temporary or low productivity jobs), and/or work in low quality, poorly paid jobs. The vast majority of the world's youth work in the informal economy, many under poor working conditions or in hazardous forms of work. In many countries, young women are much more likely to be unemployed than young men (UN, 2012). The marginalisation of women in employment and training is a relevant issue globally given the potential impact on human capital, but particularly in those countries in which women constitute the majority of the population (Misola, 2010). Other groups of young people more prone to unemployment and underemployment include youth with disabilities, those affected by HIV/AIDS, indigenous youth, demobilised young soldiers, and young migrant workers. Many developing countries, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands, are also experiencing a ‘youth bulge’ (that is, have two-thirds of their populations under the age of 30), a demographic shift which compounds what are already severely limited opportunities for integrating youth into the labour market. One billion young people will reach employment age within the next decade (ILO, 2012). Rising levels of youth unemployment and underemployment impose heavy costs on individuals and their families, society and the economy. Both prolonged absence from the labour market and poor quality/low productivity jobs contribute to high levels of poverty. Over 40% of all young people live on less than $2 a day; in developing countries, youth are disproportionately among the working poor (ILO, 2012). This enormous unlocked potential represents a substantial loss of opportunities for economic growth. Increasing numbers of youth are moving to urban areas in search of employment (many cities in the developing south lack the infrastructure and resources to support large bursts of population growth). There are also concerns that rising levels of youth un/underemployment, and the social exclusion which results from prolonged frustration in the search for status and livelihood, may be a source of social and political instability and conflict, often in already unstable countries. The labour productivity gap between developing and developed regions, although decreasing, continues to be significant (ILO, 2012). Education and training are widely perceived to be relevant to debates about productivity and competitiveness, with increasing emphasis being given to work- and skills-based solutions to economic competition and poverty. Following a decline in interest from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has returned to the agenda of governments and donor agencies internationally, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (King and Palmer, 2010). The political and policy communities in many low-and middle-income countries remain attracted by the assumed link between TVET and a reduction in unemployment, through its equipping of individuals with relevant skills and knowledge, thus enabling them to respond to employment opportunities (World Bank, 2007). The latest UNESCO Global Monitoring Report highlights the policy importance now being placed on higher-order skills and the central place they play in the global knowledge-based economy, with regard to poverty reduction, economic growth and social stability (UNESCO, 2010a). This shift in priorities is exemplified by the theme of the 2012 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (due to be published in September 2012), which will focus on TVET by exploring the links between skills programmes and employment (UNESCO, 2010b). TVET has become a key area for investment in developing countries and many initiatives have been implemented to address unemployment issues and improve economic growth. Local and national governments, private organisations and companies, national and international nongovernmental organisations (such as the Asian Development Bank, the International Labour Organisation, and the World Bank) and, on a more personal level, trainees themselves, have all made varying levels of investments in TVET programmes. For instance: in the Philippines around $200 million was invested by the government in TVET in 2002 (Péano et al, 2008); in Indonesia about $80 million dollars was invested by the Asian Development Bank and $35 million by the government in 2008 (ADB, 2008); in Uganda, participation in TVET programmes has increased by almost 50% within a decade (IMF, 2010). There is no universally accepted definition of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). As a field, it is continually changing, usually in response to the demands made upon it (Maclean and Wilson, 2009). Broadly defined, TVET is concerned with the acquisition of knowledge and skills for the world of work. Here, we follow UNESCO's definition of TVET as ‘....a comprehensive term referring to those aspects of the educational process involving, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences, and the acquisition of practical skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupants in various sectors of economic and social life’ (UNESCO, 2010b). Various terms are used to describe the diverse elements of the field that are now conceived as comprising TVET, many of them specific to particular geographical areas (for example, in the United States, the current term is career and technical education). A great diversity of TVET models can be found worldwide, with no internationally accepted set of definitions of the different types that can be distinguished. For the purposes of this systematic review, the following definitions have been used: Technical education: theoretical vocational preparation of students for jobs involving applied science and modern technology; compared to vocation education (which focuses on the actual attainment of proficiency in manual skills), technical education emphasises the understanding of basic principles of science and mathematics and their practical applications; delivered at (usually) upper secondary and lower tertiary levels to prepare students for occupations that are classified above the skilled crafts but below the scientific or engineering professions. Vocational education: organised activities designed to bring about learning as preparation for jobs in designated (manual or practical) trades or occupations; traditionally non-theoretical and focused on the actual attainment of proficiency in manual skills; usually considered part of the formal education system and thereby falling under the responsibility of the Ministry/Department of Education. Vocational training: prepares learners for jobs that are related to a specific trade or occupation, but (compared to vocational education) is better linked to the labour market and employment development system, and therefore usually falls under the responsibility of the Ministry/Department of Labour/Employment. On-the-job training: workplace-based training that uses real jobs as a basis for instruction and for practical purposes. Apprenticeship training: combines on-the-job training for a highly skilled craft or trade (from someone who is already a skilled leader in the field) with academic/theoretical instruction; also called dual-training programmes. The organisation of TVET varies widely, both between and within countries. Brief overviews of three relevant TVET programmes in low- and middle-income countries follow. Jóvenes en Acción (Youth in Action) was a Colombian training programme funded by the national government, and financed with loans from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The programme was aimed at socio-economically disadvantaged young people in seven cities across the country with the aim of helping people who were hardest hit by the recession of 1998. It reached 80,000 young people (approximately 50 percent of the target population) and was given to various cohorts over a period of four years (2002-2005). Participants underwent a total of 6 months of training, formed of 3 months classroom-based training (various manual and administrative courses were offered) and 3 months unpaid on-the-job training. Training took place at private and non-profit training centres and legally registered companies. Private training institutions had to participate in a bidding process to be able to participate in the programme. Source: Attanasio et al. (2008, 2009, 2011) The ongoing Technical and Vocational Vouchers Program (TVVP), which began in Kenya in 2008, offers young people the opportunity to undertake vocational and technical training through awarded vouchers which completely, or almost completely, cover the costs of training courses. Participants can use the vouchers to undertake training in either public or private institutions, on courses such as motor-vehicle mechanics and hairdressing. (NB: The impacts of participating in training are examined.) Source: Hicks et al. (2011) Retraining programmes for laid-off workers (all ages) implemented following new national policy measures in China have been evaluated. The training was provided primarily by city labour bureaus, but also by private sector institutions (including city and district employment training centres, colleges, universities, and secondary technical schools). The quality of programmes varied across training institutions. Duration of training averaged one to three months. Most trainees contributed to the cost of their training. Courses on offer (some of which accommodated labour market demand for certain skills) included computing, cooking, beauty, massage and hair cutting, sewing, toy making, management, repairs and driving. Source: Bidani et al. (2002, 2005, 2009) This logic model provides a simple representation of the relationships among (i) the resources that are invested; (ii) the activities that take place; and (iii) the benefits or changes that result, as a sequence of events. Employability refers to a person's capability of gaining initial employment, maintaining employment (including the ability to make transitions between jobs and roles within the same organisation to meet new job requirements) and/or obtaining new employment if required (Hillage & Pollard, 1998). It is therefore a concept that can be applied to both employed people seeking alternative jobs or promotion and unemployed people seeking work. The concept of employability has become a cornerstone of labour market policies and employment strategies internationally, with many policy makers viewing the development of individual employability as a crucial step towards improving access to employment and as a means of offering workers the opportunity to develop the skills allowing self-sufficiently within the labour market (McQuaid & Lindsay, 2005). Particularly outside policy circles, there is increasing recognition that employability is dependent not only on individual characteristics but also the environmental, social and economic context in which work is sought. For all interventions, whether job creation is additional or not is a key issue. Most projects will have both positive and negative impacts. All of these should be taken into account in order to assess the net difference that results from the TVET intervention, over and above what would have taken place anyway - i.e., estimates of gross employment outcomes should be adjusted to take into account displacement and substitution effects. Whilst recognising that determining the ‘additionality’ of any employment effects is methodologically very challenging, it is important to be aware that even if effective in terms of employment outcomes, a TVET programme might not generate any additional employment if substitution or displacement effects are present. In both instances, TVET might only be affecting who gets employed, not the level of employment. Despite considerable international evidence, the body of literature taking stock of the evaluation evidence on TVET and young people is relatively small. In many of the existing reviews, evaluations of training and retraining are presented alongside other typical active labour market programmes (ALMPs), such as employment services, public works, wage and employment subsidies and self-employment assistance. A minority extend previous reviews by explicitly considering the impacts for young people and/or for populations in developing and transition countries. A discussion of some of these reviews follows. Kluve and Schmidt (2002) compared the results of a sample of European impact evaluations of ALMPs implemented between 1983 and 1999, and compared their results to the U.S. programmes previously studied by Heckman et al. (1999). Their analysis suggests mixed programme effects across categories of intervention and target population. Young workers were found to be the most difficult group to assist among the unemployed. Kluve (2006) followed this up with a meta-analysis of European ALMPs in the later 1990s and 2000s. More recently, Card et al. (2010) present the results of a meta-analysis of evaluations of ALMP impacts from 97 studies conducted between 1995 and 2007 (the vast majority set in high income countries). The sample is derived from responses to a survey of academic researchers affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The authors report that, when comparing across different participant groups, programmes for youths are less likely to yield positive impacts than untargeted programmes, although in contrast to some earlier reviews they find no large or systematic differences by gender. Within-country, cross-programme comparisons were undertaken by Greenberg et al. (2003) who synthesised findings from 15 publicly-funded training programmes in the United States to measure programme effects on participants' earnings. Results of their meta-analysis suggest highly heterogeneous earning effects among assisted groups. The overall training effect on youth was negligible, but some control variables showed small positive effects: (i) across training types, classroom skills training courses yielded consistently better effects than on-the-job training, while (ii) gender and race controls suggested lower effectiveness of training for white and female beneficiaries than for all other participants. A global review of skills development and transition to work (Van Adams, 2007) reports positive findings from evaluations of TVET programmes for youth, although again these findings are mostly from advanced countries. There have been a number of reviews based on programmes in the World Bank's ‘Youth Employment Inventory’ database (a global inventory of more than 400 projects to support young workers in over 90 countries) including those focused specifically on young people and/or developing countries (see, for example, Betcherman et al., 2004, 2007; Fares and Puerto, 2009; Katz, 2008; Puerto, 2007; Stavreska, 2009). Betcherman et al. (2007) summarised information on a large number of international programmes supporting young people in their early years in the labour market. Although the largest concentration of included interventions is from OECD countries, there are also substantial numbers of programmes introduced in the largely middle-income countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. They found that training is the dominant form of intervention used to help young people improve their employment situation. For training as a whole, mixed results are reported, although their analysis shows an increasing incidence of positive impacts from programmes that offer multiple services, i.e., combinations of vocational training, job search assistance, entrepreneurial services, and so forth. Training programmes for youth seem to have a more positive impact in developing counties than in developed countries. More recently, Angel-Urdinola et al. (2010) analysed the main design features of non-publicly provided ALMPs in Arab-Mediterranean Countries, with a specific focus on initiatives targeted at youth. Benchmarked against international best practices, assessment of the programmes covered in the inventory reveals that the majority lack the necessary mix of design features that make such programmes effective. Although there is growing consensus that TVET is important for economic growth and social cohesion, it is still not clear who should fund, provide and regulate it, or who should take it. Collecting evidence from studies that have analysed these issues is crucial for purposes of policy making. Since most prior reviews have focused on high-income countries and/or adults of all ages, there are clear grounds for concentrating this review solely on the effects of TVET programmes on youth in low- and middle-income countries. There is also motivation for this systematic review from a methodological perspective. Many of the existing reviews, although synthesising evidence from programmes which appear relevant to our review, are not based on a systematic search and several use a ‘vote-counting’ approach to synthesis. These are problems which this review will aim to remedy; in so doing, adding value to the existing body of research on this topic. The overall aim of this systematic review is to help policy-makers, practitioners and academics understand the available evidence on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) interventions in order to guide programmatic efforts to increase employment and employability amongst youth in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The review will answer the following questions: To help in decisions as to whether and what kind of intervention should be undertaken, a main objective of the review is to systematically gather and synthesise the relevant evidence, showing variation in treatment effects, magnitude of effects, and the relationship between magnitude and mode of TVET. In addition, evidence of differential effects will be explored: for trainees with different characteristics (i.e., in relation to gender, education level, work experience, length of current employment status), by programme characteristics (i.e., in relation to type of TVET, duration of training, programme location, sector/industry, and voluntariness) and by labour market conditions. Possible reasons for varying or conflicting results will be discussed. To enhance the usability of findings, a second objective is to examine, to the extent possible, the applicability and transferability of the interventions from the study setting to the local setting. A final objective is to identify gaps in the literature and suggest potential avenues for future research. This review will be conducted in accordance with current Campbell Collaboration Guidelines on Systematic Review Methods. Studies must meet the following eligibility criteria to be included in the systematic review. To be included, a study must use an experimental or quasi-experimental design. Eligible designs include those in which the authors use a control or comparison group and in which: participants are randomly assigned (using a process of random allocation, such as a random number generation); a quasi-random method of assignment has been used and pre-treatment equivalence information is available regarding the nature of the group differences (and groups generated are essentially equivalent); participants are non-randomly assigned but matched on pre-tests and/or relevant demographic characteristics (using observables, or propensity scores) and/or according to a cut-off on an ordinal or continuous variable (regression discontinuity design); participants are non-randomly assigned, but statistical methods have been used to control for differences between groups (e.g., using multiple regression analysis, including difference-in-difference, cross-sectional (single differences), or instrumental variables regression). For this review, the control or comparison conditions in these studies may include youth receiving no treatment, treatment as usual, or an alternative treatment. No restriction will be placed on duration of follow up. Countries vary considerably in their definition of youth. The standard United Nations definition of youth as those belonging to the 15-24 years age group will apply to this review (United Nations, 1992). Participants will have the following characteristics: Inclusion in the proposed systematic review is restricted to TVET interventions with the following characteristics: To be included, a study must assess intervention effects on at least one eligible outcome variable. Qualifying outcome variables are those that fall in the following general construct categories: (a) employment and (b) employability. Studies measuring either gross employment or net employment (i.e., where displacement and substitution effects have been taken into account) are eligible for inclusion. However, despite the importance of this issue, we anticipate that the methodological difficulties in designing interventions that allow exploration of whether any employments effects are additional or not will result in the identification of few, if any, studies measuring effects on general (net) employment level. UNESCO launched a long-term TVET programme from 2000, following the Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education, held in Seoul in 1999. For this review, the date of publication or reporting of the study must be 2000 or later. Eligible studies can be published in any language as long as they meet all other eligibility criteria. We will not exclude specific forms of publication, such as theses and dissertations. Outside the scope of the review is continuing professional development (CPD) for professionals (i.e., programmes designed to upgrade knowledge and skills of practitioners in the medical and other professions). Some evaluations of active labour market programmes (ALMPs) are eligible for inclusion in the review. To be excluded are those ALMPs where the focus of the evaluation is not on vocational education or training, such as programmes providing assistance with job searching or those providing financial subsidies (an exception here would be the provision of financial assistance to attend/purchase training where trainees' participation in such training was then evaluated). Comprehensive multiple-service interventions (for example, combining on the-job training with wage subsidies) are eligible for inclusion in the review. Excluded are evaluations of programmes promoting self-employment by providing technical assistance. To be eligible, interventions must not be targeted specifically at youth with particular special needs, such as learning disabilities, physical disabilities, emotional problems, or behavioural problems. Studies will be excluded if they are focused exclusively on vocational rehabilitation training programmes. These are considered a distinct sub-category of TVET-type initiatives, with separate, distinct systems in place, and with their own body of literature. It is reasonable not to include such initiatives with mainstream TVET. Studies in which youth with special needs have participated in mainstream TVET/skills training will be included, providing other criteria have been met. Lastly, studies using only perception measures (i.e., the views of employers and the workforce about their employability) are not eligible for inclusion in the review. A comprehensive search strategy will be used to search the international research literature for qualifying studies. Different types of sources will be searched, including sources with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries (some of which were sourced from the Cochrane EPOC Group's list of sources relevant to LMICs: http://epocoslo.cochrane.org/lmic-databases). A number of European-focused sources have been included to assist the capture of relevant literature from ‘transition economies’ (countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union) and Turkey (see Appendix 1 for the World Bank list of low- and middle-income economies, grouped by region). The use of a wide range of sources is intended to capture both academic and ‘grey’ literature and reduce the omission of relevant studies, to ensure that our search is as unbiased as possible. Review management software (EPPI-Reviewer 4) will be used to manage the entire review process (Thomas et al., 2011). Potentially relevant items identified through the electronic database search will be exported to EPPI-Reviewer and then each item manually screened for eligibility, with EPPI-Reviewer used to keep track of decisions made about each citation. For relevant studies identified through hand searching, it will be necessary to check whether the item is already in EPPI-Reviewer before proceeding to manually enter details for such items into EPPI-Reviewer. All information retrieval and selection activities in the review will be documented and described in sufficient detail in the final report so that the processes can be replicated by other researchers (with summary flowcharts used to convey information, where relevant). Based on the Cochrane PRISMA checklist for reporting results of searching and screening, the following information will be recorded: databases, database platforms, search strategy for at least one database, dates of search, time-frame, name of reviewer, and time spent on searching. A wide range of general and specialist electronic bibliographic databases will be searched. If during our search we come across others deemed relevant to the review, we will search those also. Electronic bibliographic databases to be searched include: General bibliographic databases: Specialist bibliographic databases: Search terms: A tailored search strategy will be developed for each bibliographic database relying on the database's index terms (where available) and/or free-text terms. In most cases, the search strategies will combine a comprehensive list of search terms related to the intervention, outcomes and research design. Synonyms and wildcards will be applied as appropriate. Database thesauri will be consulted to ensure that all appropriate synonyms have been included. There will be no country or language restrictions to the search. A publication year filter to identify studies published since 2000 will be used. A draft search strategy for ERIC is presented in Appendix 2. To identify further studies for inclusion, the electronic search of databases will be supplemented by handsearching activities. We will conduct hand searches of websites/gateways, scan reference lists of included studies and relevant reviews, conduct forward citation tracking, contact experts and make requests through relevant networks. Websites/Gateways: Where there is a search facility that allows search terms to be entered, this will be used; otherwise, relevant sections (for example, those headed ‘publications‘) will be searched. Reference lists: The bibliographic information contained within the reference lists of included studies and relevant prior reviews will be scanned for studies that meet the eligibility criteria. The following reviews (deemed relevant as they review programmes that meet our selection criteria) will be searched (Angel-Urdinola et al., 2010; Betcherman et al., 2004, 2007; Bouillon and Tejerina, 2006; Card et al., 2010; Fares and Puerto, 2009; Godfrey, 2003; Ibarraran and Rosas Shady, 2008; Knowles and Behrman, 2005; Palmer et al., 2007; Spevacek, 2009; Van Adams, 2007). If during our search we come across others deemed relevant to the review, we will search those also. Citation checking exercises: Studies that have cited the included studies since their publication will be checked for relevance. All the hits from each citation search will be screened. Citation tracking will be performed through th