Skills policies, systems and digitalization

National policies to improve the development and use of skills can emerge from a number of policy domains, not necessarily restricted to education and labour. The crosscutting nature of skills means that local and regional development, trade, industry and migration policies are all relevant to skills and national efforts to build a lifelong learning system.

ILO work in this area supports constituents to develop, monitor, evaluate and review skills policies, with research and technical assistance addressing different technical issues at different stages of the policy cycle. Work under this area also contributed to development of the G20 Training Strategy, where the ILO set out a number of key building blocks of skills policies and systems.

Publications:

• Building Better Formal TVET Systems - Principles and Practice in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
• TVET Mapping: Social Partners
• ILO Skills System Assessment Tool
• A review of Entitlement Systems for Lifelong Learning
• The Digitization of TVET and Skills Systems
• Skills for Employment Policy Brief - Distance and Online Learning during the time of COVID-19
• Lifelong learning: Concepts, issues and actions
• Lifelong Learning in the Informal Economy: A Literature Review
• Work for a brighter future
• Making TVET and skills systems inclusive of persons with disabilities
• Comparative analysis of national skills development policies: A guide for policy makers
• Skills for Employment Policy Brief - Formulating a national policy on skills development

Statement: 

• Rethink lifelong learning

The governance, financing and regulation of skills systems is at the heart of ensuring access to high quality and relevant programs that meet the needs of individuals and the labour market.

ILO work in this area supports constituents to review and strengthen institutional arrangements and systems to improve the responsiveness, relevance and quality of TVET and skills systems. Recent research has included work to better understand the labour market impact of national qualification frameworks and a review of how different countries have met the challenge of inter-ministerial coordination.

Career guidance and counselling, career education and lifelong development of skills for employability are key for success in learning activities, effective career transitions, livelihood planning, entrepreneurship and in increasing labour market participation. They are instrumental in promoting skills utilization, recognition (RPL), as well as in improving enterprise human resource management.

Career development activities encompass a wide variety of support activities including career information and advice, counselling, work exposure (e.g. job shadowing, work experience periods), assessment, coaching, mentoring, professional networking, advocacy, basic and employability skills training (curricular and non-curricular) and entrepreneurship training. It is often an area which is fragmented across different ministries (e.g. education, TVET, employment, youth) requiring an effort to achieve the necessary coordination to provide adequate support to individuals during learning, employment and unemployment/inactivity periods.

ILO work in this area supports constituents in developing integrated lifelong career development support systems for learners, workers and vulnerable groups. Research and policy cooperation undertaken supports the improvement institutional arrangements, stakeholder cooperation, quality assurance systems, improvement of financing systems, staff development and the development of digital capacities in careers services. Supporting integrated career development support across education, training, employment policies and social protection.

The reform of skills systems around the world is increasingly recognizing the important role to be played by social partners. Having workers and employers organizations actively involved in skills systems at national, sectoral, enterprise and institutional levels is a key strategy to ensure the relevance and quality of training programs and the necessary dynamic to minimize skills mismatch.

ILO work in this area builds the capacity of its employer and worker constituents to more actively engage in skills systems and provides research and technical assistance related to the different forms of involvement possible. Recent research has included work to better understand the different ways in which trade unions have involved themselves in the skills agenda, and how employer bodies have participated in development of national skills policies.

While much of the skills reform agenda has focused on the supply of skills, reforming qualification systems, introducing competency based curriculum, strengthening training institutions and training markets, less attention is often paid to the demand for skills and its role in supporting employment and economic growth. How skills are used in the workplace and how businesses engage with the local skills ecosystem are important factors that shape the real demand for skills. Linking skills policy and programmes with other efforts to support innovation and growth in regions and enterprises is necessary to make sure that skills contribute to and drive workplace innovation. Recent ILO research has included local case studies of enterprises partnerships with business service providers to increase skills use in the workplace, and technical support to industry associations to form partnerships with local training and government organizations to address local skill needs.

At the heart of any skills system are the managers and staff of training institutions who face considerable challenges to deliver quality programmes at a time of fiscal constraint. As the expectations placed on institutions continue to grow, managers and trainers are increasingly expected to deliver flexible, responsive and current programmes based on strong partnerships with local employers that provide good employment outcomes. Because of this, the ILO supports constituents to build the capacity of their institutional workforce to meet the expectations placed upon them by demand driven systems.

Digitalisation is changing the nature of occupations and the skills required in different economic activities. The increasing use of digital technologies is also driving change in the tools and modalities of learning, assessment and certification along with the provision of career guidance, job matching and labour market services.

The considerable challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic have brought the issue - of digitalization to the fore. Although TVET and skills systems rapidly adapted to the learning crisis and accelerated the introduction of digital technologies, they are facing multiple challenges to efficiently respond to the external demand for new skills from our increasingly digital society and enterprises, and engage in their own digital transformation.

In this context, the ILO Skills Branch work under this section is focusing on the impacts of technologies on TVET and skills systems, to provide constituents with the support they need to engage in their digital transition, to leverage technologies for digital inclusion, and to bridge the digital divide for marginalized populations.