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Structural Similarities of Formal Vocational Education Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

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International Handbook on Education Development in Asia-Pacific

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Abstract

This paper analyses vocational education and training (VET) systems in four Asian and two African countries. Comparative research of VET systems suggests that they differ in terms of the nature and extent of specialization (when learners move from general to vocational education, how many learners move, and how narrowly specialized the vocational education is); the site/s of learning (education institutions, workplaces, or a combination); and the status of vocational education. The literature on VET in wealthy industrialized countries suggests that political, economic, and social factors dramatically shape the nature of training provided through formal education systems and workplaces. The four Asian countries in our study (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) and the two African countries (Ethiopia and South Africa) are substantively different in size (land size as well as population size), with very different political and economic histories, as well as cultural traditions. But in terms of the key dimensions of variation, the formal VET systems in these countries look relatively similar. The analysis suggests that the role of donors and other mechanisms for policy diffusion accounts for one aspect of the similarities – the adoption of competence-based training reforms. It further argues that there is one noticeable similarity in these countries, in terms of the nature of labor markets: very low levels of formal employment and extremely high levels of informality or unemployment. All six countries also have rapidly rising educational enrolments in general education. While human capital theory suggests that skills pay off in labor markets, the combination of widespread informality or unemployment, together with rising educational levels, is likely to shape both employer and family perceptions of qualifications and may entrench the apparently stubborn persistence of the weakness of vocational education systems.

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Acknowledgments

Colleagues in all the countries in the study contributed to collecting the background research for this paper, led by Hadush Berhe from the Ethiopian Institute of Technology-Mekelle, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia; Altaf Hossain, an independent researcher from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and formally associated with BRAC university; Bounseng Khammounty, Vocational Education Development Institute, Vientiane, Laos PDR; Thanh Thuy Nguyen, Vi Hoang Dang, and Hong Van Bui from Ho Chi Minh University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Seyhah Ven and Boparath Sry from the Cambodia Development Resource Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Markus Maurer from Zurich University of Teacher Education, Zurich, Switzerland.

The research conducted was part of the Skills for Industry Project, https://phzh.ch/en/Research/skills-for-industry/, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Swiss National Science Foundation through the Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development. Additional support was obtained from the SARCHI Research Chair in Skills Development, funded by the South African National Research Foundation.

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  1. Centre for Researching Education and Labour, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown, South Africa

    Stephanie Allais

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  1. Stephanie Allais
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Correspondence to Stephanie Allais .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Singapore Institute of Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore

    Wing On Lee

  2. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Phillip Brown

  3. Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    A. Lin Goodwin

  4. Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK

    Andy Green

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  1. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Phillip Brown

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Allais, S. (2023). Structural Similarities of Formal Vocational Education Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. In: Lee, W.O., Brown, P., Goodwin, A.L., Green, A. (eds) International Handbook on Education Development in Asia-Pacific. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_64-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_64-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-16-2327-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-16-2327-1

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