Lifelong Learning A policy framework for skill acquisition in Latin America and the Caribbean? World Bank September 13, 2005.

Lifelong Learning

A policy framework for skill acquisition in Latin America and the Caribbean?

World Bank

September 13, 2005

The storyline

• The growing demand for skilled workers in the face of growing global economic interdependence

• The weak educational foundations, unevenly distributed in the adult population

• A Lifelong Learning framework for leveraging training investment

Low Productivity GrowthAnnual growth rate of Productivity

1960/69 1970/79 1980/89 1990/99

East Asia Pacific 1.14 1.28 2.27 2.01

Eastern Europe -0.17 -0.27 0.52 0.3

Latin America 1.5 1.15 -0.93 0.45

Middle East N Afr 1.14 -1.62 -1.12 0.85

OECD 2.09 0.85 1.1 0.56

South Asia 0.46 -0.39 2.27 1.72

Sub Saharan Africa 1.54 -0.55 -0.88 -0.43

The Diverging paths:

• LAC has seen a remarkable growth in the relative wages of the most skilled workers—those with tertiary education.

• In contrast the relative wages of the workers with secondary education tend to stagnate or deteriorate.

Changes in relative wages in tertiary and secondary education

Colombia

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Year of Survey

1983

= 10

0 (3-y

ear M

A)

WagesSupply

Colombia

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Year of Survey

1983

= 10

0 (3-

year

MA)

WagesSupply

What accounts for the patterns? • To a great extent, the increase in relative wages to

tertiary-level education has resulted from shifts in the demand for qualified, skilled workers by firms

• Changes are occurring in same sectors in different countries and in sectors which opened up to trade, in particular trade which is intensive in R&D

SO … • Increases in the demand for skilled workers are related

to patterns of integration of LAC countries in the “global knowledge economy”

• Trade is a vehicle transmitting skill-biased technological change (increases productivity and relative wages)

Latin American countries tend to be under-educated relative to their incomes

.

Me

an

ye

ars

of e

du

ca

tion

, p

op

ula

tion

ag

ed

25

+

Log of per capita GDP, 20005 6 7 8 9 10 11

3

6

9

12

Haiti

NicaraguHonduras

Guyana

Bolivia

Ecuador

Guatemal

Paraguay

El Salva

JamaicaDominicaColombia

Peru

Panama

Venezuel

Mexico

Costa Ri

Brazil

TrinidadChile

Uruguay

Argentin

Barbados

China

Indonesi

Philippi

Thailand

Malaysia

Korea

Taiwan

Hong Kon

Singapor

New ZealCanada

Australi

Sweden

United S

Finland

With a gap in secondary enrollment rates

.

Ne

t se

co

nd

ary

en

rolm

en

t ra

te,

19

98

Log of per capita GDP, 19985 6 7 8 9 10 11

20

40

60

80

100

Nicaragu

Guyana

Ecuador

El Salva

Paraguay

Jamaica

Dominica

Peru

Colombia

Belize

Venezuel

Mexico

Costa Ri

Brazil

TrinidadChile

Argentin

China

Indonesi

PhilippiThailand

MalaysiaKorea

Hong Kon

New ZealCanada

Australi

Sweden

Finland

United S

And also at the tertiary level …

.

Gro

ss t

ert

iary

en

rolm

en

t ra

te,

19

98

Log of per capita GDP, 19985 6 7 8 9 10 11

0

20

40

60

80

Haiti

NicaraguHondurasGuyana

Bolivia

SurinameGuatemal

EcuadorEl Salva

ParaguayJamaica

Dominica

Peru

Colombia

Belize

Panama

Venezuel

Mexico

Costa Ri

Brazil

Trinidad

ChileBarbados

Argentin

Bahamas

China

Indonesi

PhilippiThailand

Malaysia

Korea

Hong Kon

Singapor

New ZealCanada

Australi

Sweden

Finland

United S

Some countries have an unbalanced education development

• While most Latin American countries follow a balanced but slow education transition.

• Some countries like Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador and Venezuela have the bulk of population with some primary schooling and more individuals with tertiary education than secondary.

Educational transitions (2)South Korea: fast and balanced

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1960 1980 2000

0

2

4

6

8

10

Primary or less Secondary Tertiary Years of Education

Change in years of education: 7.2

Educational transitions (3)Colombia: balanced, but slow

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1960 1980 2000

0

2

4

6

8

10

Primary or less Secondary Tertiary Years of Education

Change in years of education: 2.0

Educational transitions (4)Costa Rica: unbalanced and slow

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1960 1980 2000

0

2

4

6

8

10

Primary or less Secondary Tertiary Years of Education

Change in years of education: 2.2

LAC the most unequal region

• LAC income inequality is wider than any other region of the world (the nine most unequal countries are in LAC).

• Income inequality in the region has increased since World War II

• During the 90’s, inequality increased but not uniformly across countries: Argentina has experienced dramatic increases in inequality while in Brazil inequality has fallen

Latin America is unusually unequal in income differences…

Source: Authors’ calculations based on UNU/WIDER-UNDP World Income; Inequality Database, Version 1.0, September 2000.

Gini coefficient: distribution of household per capita income, regions of the world, 1990s

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1

LAC

Asia

Developed Eastern Europe

Education is central to the reproduction of inequality

Example: differences in years of education between top and bottom quintiles, 1990 and 2000

3

4

5

6

7

8

Uru

guay

Ven

ezue

la

El S

alva

dor

Nic

arag

ua

Chi

le

Arg

entin

a

Cos

ta R

ica

Par

agua

y

Hon

dura

s

Pan

ama

Per

u

Ecu

ador

Bra

zil

Mex

ico

Around 1990 Around 2000

Secondary Education remains the priority

• Countries without a large fraction of the workforce with at least secondary education do not attract advanced technologies—and when they do, there are few “knowledge spillovers”

• Secondary education as a necessary stepping stone to university-level education

• Countries which have had the most successful educational transitions have done so sequentially

The modest private rate of return to secondary education

Secondary

Education

Tertiary

Education

Argentina 5 11

Bolivia 8 14

Brazil 19 19

Chile 8 22

Columbia 5 18

Mexico 6 13

Jamaica 3.3 8.4

Removing constraints to secondary education development

Demand side• Cost of schooling• Opportunity Cost• Low rate of return

Supply side• School Infrastructure• Teacher shortage• Private sector

• Scholarships• Cash transfer/attendance• Certification of basic skills• Fees in Higher education

• Reconverting primary schools• Scholarships in higher education• Funding formula, vouchers,

charter schools

Does lifelong learning provide a useful framework to guide policy makers in shaping policies that address the challenges of skill development in Latin America

and the Caribbean?

The case studies:

• Peru: Skill acquisition in “High Tech”Export Agriculture (Martin Carnoy, Tom Luschei and Enrique Aldave)

• Brazil: Mapping the “invisible lifelong learning non-system (Elenice Leite)

• Colombia: The demand for training ( Felipe Barrera Osorio and Lucas Higuera)

• Costa Rica: Learning and training for work (Hernan Araneda)• Dominican Republic: Lifelong learning in the labor force (Rolando

Guzman)• Jamaica: Building a lifelong learning strategy (Lorraine Blank, Tom

Mc Ardle)• Mexico: The Educational status of out of School adults in Mexico

(Roger Diaz de Cosio and Alfonso Ramón Bagur)• Chile: Meeting the challenge of the knowledge economy (Hernan

Araneda)

The main findings: • LLL foundations are weak • Employers and individuals make substantial

investments in post school LLL• Much of post school LL is job related training for

younger workers• The articulation between formal schooling and

post school LLL is weak • Participation in post school LLL is more unequal

than formal schooling• Education and training policies are not aligned in a

LLL framework

Implications for policy

• An LLL inventory

• LLL as a framework to guide adult education and training

• Filling the gaps: targeted intervention in LLL

• LLL and new opportunities

• Financing lifelong learning

Lifelong Learning is more Necessity than Luxury

• Rapid and continuous change in technology

• Organizational changes at firm level

• Short job tenure in competitive sectors

Learning in the Knowledge Economy

Then• Information based• Rote learning• Teacher directed• Just in case• Formal education only• Directive based • Learn at a given age• Terminal education

Now• Knowledge creation/

application• Analysis and synthesis• Collaborative learning• Just in time• Variety of learning modes • Initiative based• Incentives, motivation to

learn• Lifelong learning

• Knowledge economy puts premium on learning and skills

• Increased access to learning–through home, school, job

• Chances of lagging further behind–“Digital Divide”

• Transformation of learning

Knowledge Economy and Lifelong Learning Require Rethinking of Education and Training

A New Architecture for Education and Training

• New skills and competences• New pathways to learning• Governance system• Financing options

New Skills and Competences

• Traditional academic skills• Literacy, numeracy,

• Science, technology/ICT, international language

• Emerging need for different skills• self-regulated learning

• tolerance for ambiguity

• creative thinking

• ability to work in a team

• learning how to learn

New Pathways to Learning

• Increased access to learning opportunities • Variety of ways learners can learn• Increased access to knowledge resources

• Additional/diverse learning modalities• Modular, Part-time, Distance/e-learning,..

• Different approach to learning (pedagogy)• Changing role of teachers, curricula, technology

Governance of Lifelong Learning: Challenges

Traditional Education Lifelong learning

Scope • Formal schooling • Formal, non/informal

Content • Acquisition/

repetition

• Curriculum-driven

• Creation/application

• Diverse source

Delivery • Limited options

• Institutions

• Uniform, supply-

driven

• Multiple options

• Individuals

• Pluralistic, demand-

driven

Learning

Outcome

• Standardized

assessment

• Flexible recognition

of soft skills

Governance for Lifelong Learning

From To• Sectoral approach • Multi-sectoral, coordination

• Control and regulation • Support and partnership

• Issue orders

• Direct students

• Create choices, pathways;

• Inform learners

• Institution-driven • Learner-driven

• National curriculum • Recognition & quality control

• Rules and regulations • Incentives and facilitations

Financing Lifelong Learning: Challenges

• Expenditures increase, public resources limited

• Priority for public: basic education

• Balance between subsidies and market mechanisms given that• Benefits both private and public

• Access to capital uneven

Financing Options

Cost-recovery Subsidies

Traditional loan Voucher

Human capital contracts Learning accounts

Graduate tax Savings accounts

Income contingent loans Tax credits

Entitlements: combination loan/voucher

Building the missing lifelong learning framework

• Adapting curriculum, pedagogy and objectives within the education system, to give to everyone the foundations for autonomous learning (at school and for adults)

• Promoting complementarities between education and training, formal and informal learning, public and private provision (learning pathways)

• Revamping training policies (modular, competencies based, certification of achievement)

• Creating alternative modes of financing to stimulate demand and provision of training

Questions for a debate:• In a context of limited financing, are investments

in formal secondary and investments in out of school unskilled youth conflicting priorities?

• Should public financing focus on providing foundation skills leaving to the private sector the more costly vocational training.

• Is it the right policy to target LLL on youth considering that LLL start in early childhood.

• With a LLL policy stimulating the individual investment is there a risk of increasing inequity.