Lifelong Learning

1
Lifelong Learning

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

2
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

3
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
4
The Diverging paths

• LAC has seen a remarkable growth in the relative
  wages of the most skilled workersthose with
  tertiary education.
• In contrast the relative wages of the workers
  with secondary education tend to stagnate or
  deteriorate.

5
Changes in relative wages in tertiary and
secondary education
6
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 RD
• 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)

7
Latin American countries tend to be
under-educated relative to their incomes
8
With a gap in secondary enrollment rates
9
And also at the tertiary level
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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.

11
Educational transitions (2)South Korea fast and
balanced
12
Educational transitions (3)Colombia balanced,
but slow
13
Educational transitions (4)Costa Rica
unbalanced and slow
14
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 90s, inequality increased but not
  uniformly across countries Argentina has
  experienced dramatic increases in inequality
  while in Brazil inequality has fallen

15
Latin America is unusually unequal in income
differences

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

Source Authors calculations based on
UNU/WIDER-UNDP World Income Inequality Database,
Version 1.0, September 2000.
16
Education is central to the reproduction of
inequalityExample differences in years of
education between top and bottom quintiles, 1990
and 2000
8
7
6
5
4
3
Peru
Chile
Brazil
Mexico
Panama
Uruguay
Ecuador
Argentina
Paraguay
Honduras
Nicaragua
Venezuela
El Salvador
Costa Rica
Around 1990
Around 2000
17
Secondary Education remains the priority

• Countries without a large fraction of the
  workforce with at least secondary education do
  not attract advanced technologiesand 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

18
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
19
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

20
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?
21
The case studies

• Peru Skill acquisition in High TechExport
  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)

22
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

23
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

24
Lifelong Learning is more Necessity than Luxury

• Rapid and continuous change in technology
• Organizational changes at firm level
• Short job tenure in competitive sectors

25
Learning in the Knowledge Economy

• Now
• Knowledge creation/ application
• Analysis and synthesis
• Collaborative learning
• Just in time
• Variety of learning modes
• Initiative based
• Incentives, motivation to learn
• Lifelong learning

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

26
Knowledge Economy and Lifelong Learning Require
Rethinking of Education and Training

• Knowledge economy puts premium on learning and
  skills
• Increased access to learningthrough home,
  school, job
• Chances of lagging further behindDigital
  Divide
• Transformation of learning

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A New Architecture for Education and Training

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

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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

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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

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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
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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
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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

33
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 Entitlements combination loan/voucher
34
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

35
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.