How Can Cross-National Comparisons Help Understand Benefits and Disadvantages of VET Systems - Essay Example

How can cross-national comparisons help us understand benefits and disadvantages of VET systems? Discuss with reference to two countries of your choice. Introduction The education and training of the labor force is one of the most important foundations of a country’s performance. This is the reason why most countries have institutionalized the architecture of education and their training systems. The vocational education and training (VET) system is part of this national strategy and through the years have acquired its relevance in achieving for a country its competitive advantage in the labor market. This paper will examine the benefits of understanding the advantages and disadvantages of VET in cross-country comparison. For the purposes of this paper, I would be using the cases of Germany and Singapore. It is expected that in examining variables that mostly demonstrate and influence characteristics, behavior and apparent success of VET systems, the comparison could help identify the best model to adopt as well determine those elements that would be helpful in VET policy-making. Rationale behind the VET System Certainly all countries across the globe aims to improve its performance by addressing both domestic and international demands and at the needs of the learners, young and adult for education and training that are in keeping with their aptitudes and interests. Education and training is crucial in the sustenance of economic efficiency. This is demonstrated in Taiwan’s experience. In the past forty years, this country has dramatically transformed itself from an agrarian economy to a robust export-oriented economy that enjoys high trade surplus. According to Finley, Niven and Young: Such remarkable performance may be attributed primarily to the successful development of a vocational education and training system which produced professionals in sufficient numbers able to contribute to the rapid economic development of Taiwan. (p. 61) In the past decades, significant changes in the world trade have emerged as technology increasingly dominated the landscape. Taiwan saw this opportunity and restructured its provision for technological and vocational education. Today, Taiwan is the 13th largest trading country and that it per capita income reached $12,000. From another perspective, one takes the case of the United States in a report by Business Week (1990): Workers must get as much schooling as possible, demand broader duties on the job, and take on more responsibility for the company’s success. Americans, in short, must revolutionize the way they organize, manage and carry out work, or their jobs will disappear in the fast-paced global economy… America may not outlast its infancy unless the US vastly improves public education and creates national apprenticeship system. (Ashton and Green, p. 12) The above observation underscores how VET is crucial in the competitive advantage of a country regardless of its economic position in the world stage. Certain objectives such as social and economic can be achieved through education and training by inevitably improving the productive capability of a state. More specifically, education and training equips people in a country with the important skills, attitudes and behaviors in order to engage in a productive work and occupation. The consensus, wrote Staff and Corbett, which is thus expressed around the decisive nature and priority status of education and training from now on sanction the application of economics to this public service both at the macro-economic and at the micro-economic level. Particularly, the International Labour Organization (ILO) outlined some of the mission statements of the VET system. These are: Providing job-related knowledge and skills in order to help people find employment or self-employment (skills for employment promotion); Providing vocational knowledge and skills to any citizen who desires them and to increase the proportion of people with formal vocational qualifications; Ensuring a more equitable access to skills, employment and income skills; Meeting the training needs of industry, and addressing the national skills shortages and so on. (Gasskov, p. 16) Country-Specific Models The differences in VET mission, objectives and structure depend on national circumstances. A national VET policy, for instance, may emphasize in reforming the VET system with the goal of improving vocational participation or realizing a social policy of equalizing the access to skills training and development, saving funds in training provision, among other focuses. Gasskov identified the most popular policy emphasis as those that seek to decentralize training systems, introduce competence-based vocational qualifications, apply the international quality management standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – the ISO 9000 family – in VET institutions, introduce the modular-based learning and distance learning, etc. (p. 19) These underscore the importance of understanding and examining VET in the national context. Most countries run large numbers of vocational education and training (VET) institutions, which absorb a large share of their government budgets. As national VET systems vary from country to country and their management reflect the conditions in which they operate, each of their experiences serve as lessons in a desire to develop or adopt the model that could be operated efficiently and successfully, one that is both flexible and cost-effective, with the ability to respond quickly to changes and challenges both in the domestic and international labor markets. An underlying dimension to the nation-specific policies of VET and their comparison is that due to the interdependency of nations, policies can be transferred and adopted. “Given that there is something,” wrote Ryan, “that might be learned from some foreign nations’ ways of dealing with a subject, comparison becomes a necessity specially in the evaluation in regard to which country to examine and emulate.” (p. 76) VET systems are categorized in the following table: The Typology of the VET Systems Type Country Examples Main Feature Employer-led Germany Pressure to train workers resulting from cooperation between employer federations, the state, and labor unions. State-driven and Demand-Led Singapore The state plays a central and leading role in coordinating training although it operates within an open and competitive environment. State-led Barbados, Colombia, Jamaica Pressure to train workers resulting from tripartite cooperation Enterprise-based/Corporate Japan Firms take responsibility for training workers who stay with firms for long periods Voluntarist US, UK Little or no institutional pressure on firms to provide training Supply-led France, Mexico State plays a lead role in providing training, with little or no pressure on firms to train Source: Ferranti 2003, p. 112 Justification of Comparison According to the German Research Foundation, the international comparison of VET systems: examines the conditions, processes and consequences of the acquisition of specialist qualifications, personal and social attitudes and orientations which appear significant for the execution of vocationally organized work processes. (cited in Rauner and Maclean 2009, p. 82) Specifically, two of the primary utilities of cross-country institutional. comparisons of the VET are: 1) it identifies the usual problems; and, 2) challenges involved as well as in determining the issues that helpful in policy-making. The fact is that there are systems that are more effective and successful than those systems found in other countries. This is demonstrated by several case studies. As mentioned previously, I would be using the cases of Germany and Singapore to explain the previous points. Germany versus Singapore VET Systems This comparison would focus on four important aspects: regulation and management, adults training; training of young people; capacity for innovation; and’ social and economic effects. Overview: Germany Germany’s VET system is popularly known as Dual VET System. This education and training service is available: first, as part of the progression route from the general educational system; and, secondly, to all young people regardless of their educational attainments. The duality in this model comes from the fact that VET is conducted both in vocational schools as well as in private firms during in-company training. Here, there is the integration of theoretical education at school and the practical instruction and experience at the workplace. A trainee/student/apprentice, must sign a civil law contract when undergoing VET, which guarantees extensive VET in a state-recognized occupation and providing him or her with remuneration based on collective wage agreement for the duration of the contract. According to Adrie Visscher (2009), the German interpretation of the VET is guided by two principles: First, VET is seen as an education, comprising not only skills and capacities, but the idea of education being part of the developmental process leading to an autonomous individual… Second, the German system is rooted in an ‘occupation orientated’, or genuine ‘vocational’ training culture; vocationalism in the German meaning of the term stands for integral qualifications based on uniform training schemes and highly standardized examination procedures. (p. 125-126) Overview: Singapore The Asian Development Bank classifies Singapore’s VET as one that has “comprehensive” vocational training structure, forging strong linkages between education institutions and training agencies. (James 2005, p. 905) Much of the Singaporean VET system is identified with the Institute of Technical Education, which is the single largest provider of full-time and part-time vocational education for graduating secondary school students and the working adults. The institution works closely and in coordination government policies, particularly the agency concerned with labor supply planning. It is run by Singapore’s Ministry of Education. In addition, it works with private firms in establishing and approving training centers, which in turn train employees and apprentices to be certified by the ITE, hence, the institution also functions as an award/certificate-giving agency for vocational and pre-vocational qualification. In 2005, ITE launched the One ITE System, Three Colleges Model. The model provided the three colleges (ITE College East, ITE College Central, and ITE College West) with greater autonomy and flexibility in running its operations according to their own strategic directions in line with ITEs Mission, Vision and Values. (APEC n.d.) Outside the ITE, the Singapore’s overall VET policy adheres to the basic principles behind the VET best practices as it offers a wide range of VET services such as vocational education outside the formal school system by specialized vocational institutions, linking training to employers, and the continuous and strict monitoring and evaluation not only of the existing training institutions and programs but that of the labor market relevance of the training programs. (van der Meulen Rodgers and Boyer 2006, p. 362) Regulation and Management According to Schmoch, Rammer and Legler (2006), in terms of regulative policy, the German VET is considered as a mixed system that combines elements of the market economy as well as state and corporative control elements or as a state-controlled market model. (p. 208) What sets this model different, say, from the Singaporean VET system, is that it is not centrally-controlled. Instead, there are tripartite, corporative arrangements in place between the state, national economic associations and the trade unions that are anchored on consensual and social partnership. There are several advantages to this setup. For example, this way, the possibility of polarization and the risks of state or market failure are avoided. The federal German government is responsible for the education aspect at school while the part of VET carried out as in-company training falls under different legislation as it is, as mentioned previously, governed by a legally-binding contract between a company and the student/apprentice. (Heinemann and Deitmer 2009, p. 125) Another important dimension to the German VET system is that it has a federal structure wherein responsibility for VET provision is devolved to state governments within a broader framework of national VET legislation and policy. (Foley, p. 241) The characteristics of Germany’s VET system, specifically its focus on multi-pronged model, allows for a kind of functional flexibility by managements, which became handy and indispensable from the 1990s. Edwards, Siemenski and Zieldin (1993) observed that “it compensates for high wage costs and for the relatively high degree of external employment rigidity, and that it is made possible by the absence of union control over job territories and the negotiation of agreements in regard to internal mobility.” (p. 120) On the other hand, the Singaporean VET policy is centrally coordinated and, largely, under the control of the highly interventionist government. Training, for instance, could be provided by a private organization but that the government still closely monitors it, starting from its establishment, the development of curriculum, to the training itself. As mentioned elsewhere in this paper, the budget for the VET is part of the government annual budget. By 2004, the Singaporean government spends $8,018 on technical and vocational education and training per student. (Boon and Gopinathan 2006, p. 14) Central to the government’s role in Singapore’s VET is the creation of the agency called Economic Development Board (EDB), which is concerned with the general responsibility of ensuring the inward investment in the country. Part of its mandate is to assure the human resource requirements for new industries to be created by the foreign capital. EDB ensures that education and training system is capable of producing the right type of skills required for the new industries, as part of the greater strategy to lure investors in the country. (International Labour Office 1998, p. 123) As a result, numerous state agencies are involved such as the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Economic Development Board feed this information into the Council for Professional Technical Education, the main decision-making body for determining output of the VET. Adult Training Continuing adult training under the German VET system is largely employment-based, in line with the dual system principle. Here, skilled German workers who wish to upgrade their qualifications from Facharbeiter to Meister or Techniker level do so typically by taking part-time courses outside working hours on various government-sponsored technical colleges. (Grubb and Ryan 1999, p. 94) Private companies could also sponsor their employees to retrain or upgrade their skills, shouldering the expenditures for the training. However, adult education has been largely considered as part of the upgrading of qualifications and, hence, individual-sponsored. This is not a problem in Germany due to the abundance of public institutions that caters to such needs. The Singaporean VET model features a continuing adult training system for worker upgrading. This aspect in VET is controlled and managed by the government agency called Productivity Standards Board (PSB). Like the VET program that emphasizes pre-employment skills, this program emphasizes linking education to industrial needs. (Finley, Niven and Young, p. 89) It must be underscored that the adult training is conducted in separate post-school VET institutions. Numerous models of adult education are available under the Singapore VET system. For example, there is the ITE’s Adult Co-operative Training Scheme introduced in 1992. This scheme aims to enhance both the on-the-job and off-the-job training of mature workers, aged 20-40 years with below O-level qualifications. There is also the Training Grants Scheme under the auspices of the National Productivity Board and funded by the Skills Development Fund. The Grant is targeted to help employers learn how to organize and implement training among their employees. This scheme offers grants to employers of between 30-90 percent of the cost of (re)training workers through in-plant programs to upgrade their skills. (Ashton, p. 47) Training of the Young Population The percentage of vocational education in Singapore, is 13 percent of the total population of the Singaporean school system. (ADB 2007, p. 66) This is significantly different from the very high participation rates in Germany where two-thirds of all young people undertake and complete VET. (Foley, p. 243) The number of adolescents enrolling in the German VET programs is approximately 600,000 every year and that, all in all, more than 1.8 million young people – with a female share of 41.5% - are learning their trades through the dual system. (Heinemann and Deitmer, p. 125) The German VET programs for adolescents and young adults, as previously mentioned, are available for everyone regardless of scholastic achievement and are typically pre-employment training taken on under contracts of apprenticeship. For Singapore, the training for young people is offered in anticipation of the needs of the industry. Programs being offered under the public institutions that offer VET courses are strictly controlled by the government. One can enter into a VET training through two paths, first is through the school system, after passing qualifying examination, and the second is through the production sector. The National Trade Certificate (NTC) program, for instance, offers three levels of training: the NTC-3 which provides basic skills training to those adolescents leaving primary and secondary schools; NTC-2 trains those who have completed the NTC-3 level and those who have graduated in secondary schools and passed the General Certificate Education (GCE) “0” and “N” level examinations; NTC-1 offers training for highly skilled or master craftsmen. (Salome and Charmes 1988, p. 36) The way young adolescents are admitted in the German and Singaporean VET systems reveal why the former attracts more young people than the latter. In Germany, training is for everybody while in Singapore, those who did not pass the required marks for the tertiary admission examinations end up in the VET systems. The low turnout in Singapore’s VET institutions (especially in comparison with the German experience) could be attributed to the low prestige tagged with studying within the VET system. This dimension also has a drawback in the case of Germany. Due to the huge number of people availing training, there is a serious problem relating to the lack of training places particularly if the ultimate aim of the model is to provide all young people with the opportunity of qualified training. (Schmoch, Rammer and Legler, p. 205) Innovation The popularity of the German VET system, as demonstrated by the sheer number of apprentices it attracts every year, contributes to the strength, diversification and quality of the VET architecture. As a consequence, there is a high level of diversified skills available, which contributes positively to both the apprentices’ attitudes toward technological innovation and their capability to cope with the dramatic development of technology and its processes. In a study conducted by Northcott et al. (1985), for instance, German firms are found to use more technologically advanced machinery and processes than any of their European counterparts. In regard to delivering change, Singapore lags behind the German VET model. It has not been innovative due mainly to the fact it is influenced largely by its colonial past – the British academic legacy. Like the general education system, students in VET are studying towards the “O” and “A” level qualifications before higher education, although it differs with the British model in regard to its heavy reliance on streaming and examination at every stage of the education and training process. (Finley, Niven and Young, p. 88) In this area, it is important to note that innovation especially in technology is anchored on the creativity and skill that is produced by the workers’ autonomy. In this regard, Edwards, Siemenski and Zeldin stressed that worker autonomy in the execution of work tasks in different societies has been measured and compared by establishing the ratio of supervisory staff to production workers or, in other words, the span of control. (p. 121) They said that the latter is consistently found to be wider in Germany, thanks to its Dual VET system. Social and Economic Benefits The Dual VET model in Germany is credited to be responsible for the low unemployment rate in the country especially among young people. The positive social repercussion of this phenomenon is highly significant, contributing to the economic and social stability of Germany. With this in mind, it is useful to mention that there are already existing studies that found how the German dual system efficiently and successfully achieves its economic goals. For instance, David Ashton (1999) found that some of the skills necessary for companies to compete in the markets for high value-added goods and services can only be acquired through a combination of workplace and classroom learning. (p. 46) The social benefits of the Singaporean VET model are difficult to evaluate. The reason for this is that training programs in Singapore are concerned as much with value transformation - inculcating a work ethic conducive to industrial work - as with skill production. From the economic perspective, it is, of course, given that the VET graduates could immediately find jobs after training due to shortage of skilled workers in the country. There are studies, however, the present a negative picture in regard to the overall impact of the VET on Singaporeans’ lives. A case in point is a study conducted by Pang wherein he found that workers with VET certificates do not earn significantly more than workers who have only completed the primary or secondary level of education. (p. 133) VET, hence, seem to have little impact on earnings of those who have trained under it. Pang further found that VET does not guarantee its graduates an advantage in the upward mobility in the labor market. He reported that in Singapore, the high level of schooling is still the requirement for a number of high-level occupations. (p. 133) Most of the studies referred to by this paper, particularly in this section, have been interpreted using the quantile regression analysis, which, supposedly, is effective in quantifying the mean returns to education. With this methodology, the studies available presently in regard to the evaluation and measurement of educational outcomes are able to identify certain stylized facts especially in VET. Van der Meulen and Boyer provided a valuable insight: In… countries we tend to observe increasing returns with quantiles. A likely explanation for the observed pattern of returns… is the interaction between the ability and schooling, which results in the amplification of the impact of ability upon earning… Increasing returns… has been interpreted as an indication that ability and education (or skills) complement each other, with more able workers benefiting from investment in education. (p. 359) Conclusion The numerous literature that discuss and examine the VET systems in Germany and Singapore points to several key VET issues that other countries could learn from. For instance, a specific model, in the case of this paper, the German Dual VET System, could address variables such as the social, the cultural and the economic in such a way that they attract a huge number of students or trainees. Then, the comparison also highlighted existing constraints in terms of efficiency. The centralized VET model in Singapore, for example, is a bit rigid and slow in responding to changes and lags behind in the comparison on the capability for innovation. However, their model has worked for the country because it and its populations size. In addition, the government is highly capable to spend an exorbitant amount to fund its vocational and technical schools in addition to the discipline and political will found in the state leadership. In consideration of the above factors, it is clear that there are country-specific factors that need to be covered in order to determine whether a VET model would be successful when transferred to another country. Fortunately, countries are free to examine and take which elements in a VET model would be helpful to its own case and leave those that are not. This has been demonstrated in the way Singapore adopted the German Dual System element in the VET programs it offers for adults and workers. Now, this brings us to an important lesson learned from the discussion within this paper - the advantages of the German Dual system. First, it must be underscored that the integration of the academic and on-the-job elements in training proved to be very successful. Many countries could find this model applicable to their own situation and tailored according to the requirements of their workers and the labor market. As previously mentioned, there are empirical evidence that points to the positive relationship between such duality in vocational education and training and the requirements of the labor market. As a matter of fact, Singapore has adopted the dual element of the German system into its own with the introduction of the New Apprenticeship Scheme in 1990. It was modeled after the Baden-Wurttemberg version of the Dual System and was targeted at employers with the ability to train their own workers. (Ashton, p. 46) Here, the scheme required pedagogically qualified trainers (the German Meisters) and both on-the-job and off-the-job training. The cooperative nature of Germany labor relations – between management and workers – is not only supported and maintained by the structure of the system of industrial relations; rather, the relatively harmonious quality of industrial relations also receives considerable boost from the German Dual VET model. As Edwards, Siemenski and Zeldin posited, the homogeneity of the skill structure creates common values and orientations, embodied in craft ethos and that this, in turn, improves communication between different hierarchical levels, and conflicts of interest between management and labor become mediated by the cooperative culture of a craft community. (p. 120) As this paper has outlined, many of the VET institutions around the world are publicly funded, with their budget part of the government budget and their staff, civil servants. By examining and comparing other countries experiences particularly those that focus on the failures and success of country-specific VET models, a country could learn benefit in its own VET model development efforts. For example, with the comparison undertaken by this study, one of the important insights drawn was that VET institutions can become responsive, flexible and cost-effective by delegating its management to an independent body whose autonomy allows for independent academic and financial decisions. One is reminded of a study by Gasskov on VET systems, wherein he found that lack of autonomy among VET institutions often translates into fewer incentives for staff initiative and improvement of performance. (p. xi) Finally, what countries could learn both from the German and Singaporean systems - with all their differences, similarities and characteristics - is that VET is consistently aligned with the respective countries economic trajectory to sustainable growth. The German VET system has been credited for the low unemployment rate in the country as well as by playing a fundamental part in the wider German industrial model that has allowed the country sustained economic growth in the past decades. The Singaporean VET system, helped the state to successfully pursue its objectives in a coordinated effort of the various state agencies to transform the small country into a competitive investor haven. References African Development Bank (ADB) 2007, African Economic Outlook 2008. OECD Publishing. APEC. (not dated). The Institute of Technical Education in Singapore. Retrieved 1 Mar. 2010 Ashton, D 1999, Education and training for development in East Asia: the political economy of skill formation in East Asian newly industrialised economies. New York: Routledge. Ashton, D N and Green, F 1996, Education, training, and the global economy. Edward Elgar Publishing. Boon, G and Gopinathan, S 2006, The Development of Education in Singapore since 1965. 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