Morocco 2023
Key takeaways
The 2023 Torino Process system report for Morocco shines a spotlight on the country’s vocational education and training (VET) system. The high demand for initial VET programmes indicates that young learners consider them to be a relevant and competitive educational choice, with the system experiencing double the number of applications compared to the number of applicants accepted. In comparison, continuing VET struggles to attract adult learners into its programmes. Innovations to address systemic obstacles to access could result in more active participation by adults in VET and other lifelong learning opportunities.
Although Morocco’s VET system faces challenges in delivering high-quality teaching and training, graduates are successful in finding employment. This suggests the level of preparation is both valued by employers and relevant to the local labour market needs. Career guidance is another VET system strength and this, coupled with the active engagement of external stakeholders in VET governance and management, all contribute to the success and employability of Morocco’s VET graduates.
There are, however, areas of ongoing challenge. The system’s openness to collaborate with external stakeholders does not extend to international partnerships and peer exchanges, both of which could enhance VET system innovations and support teacher development. Additionally, an uneven allocation of financial and material resources may well be impacting the capacity of VET providers to consistently meet the educational expectations of learners. Yet Morocco demonstrates a commitment to pursuing both excellence and innovation which will strengthen the system’s performance in the coming years.
Access to learning
Access and participation to learning is the area of monitoring that helps countries capture the extent to which initial VET, continuing VET and other learning opportunities are accessible and attractive for learners, irrespective of who they are and why they wish to participate in learning. It also indicates the success with which learners progress through, and graduate from, the VET system.
The Torino Process monitoring results for Morocco indicate that while access and attractiveness of the VET system is an area of weaker performance overall, there is a clear distinction between the appeal of initial VET and continuing VET.
In contrast, continuing VET, along with other learning opportunities for adults, appears a less attractive option, despite being generally available to learners at no additional cost.
Learners who do manage to access a VET programme are, unfortunately, not guaranteed to participate successfully, as the completion of their learning and especially the transition to another learning opportunity presents a significant challenge.
The VET system provides limited opportunity to switch between general and vocational learning pathways meaning that most initial VET learners become stuck in a rigid system that limits their educational career prospects.
Despite limited flexibility in the initial VET system in Morocco, its high demand suggests it is nonetheless considered to be an attractive and relevant educational option. Attention should now focus on enhancing the successful participation of learners through the system. In relation to continuing VET, initiatives addressing challenges and obstacles to access could increase adult participation in VET and other lifelong learning opportunities.
Quality of learning
Quality and relevance of learning is the area of monitoring that identifies the extent to which the VET system succeeds in providing basic skills and key competences to young and adult learners. It highlights the relevance of VET programmes to the world of work and the success with which VET graduates enter the labour market. Also monitored is the extent to which excellence is pursued in relation to programme content, delivery and social inclusion, as well as systemic innovation which helps the VET system to respond to the evolving needs of learners and labour markets.
While Morocco’s VET system appears forward-looking with the inclusion of soft skills and green skills in the curricula, there are challenges in delivering good quality basic skills and competences to young learners.
Yet despite the lower quality of learning and training outcomes for youth, the employability of VET graduates in Morocco is a system strength. Although practical, work-based learning is not currently a strong component of many training programmes, the skills delivered by this mainly schools-based approach appear, nonetheless, to be valued by employers and relevant to the local labour market needs.
In terms of excellence, the VET system of Morocco reveals an incomplete picture. Excellence in regard to the professional development of teachers applies mainly to those in initial VET who have greater access to training opportunities than their counterparts in continuing VET.
Morocco is missing data that would identify how such professional development opportunities influence excellence in VET programme content and implementation, but VET governance and management appear to be a VET system strength.
Systemic innovations to improve access to lifelong opportunities as well as quality and relevance of learning and training are being activated. So, too, are innovations in support of the successful participation and graduation of learners but their impact is yet to reach a critical mass of learners.
Despite limited flexibility in the initial VET system in Morocco, its high demand suggests it is nonetheless considered to be an attractive and relevant educational option. Attention should now focus on enhancing the successful participation of learners through the system. In relation to continuing VET, initiatives addressing challenges and obstacles to access could increase adult participation in VET and other lifelong learning opportunities.
System organisation
System organisation is the area of monitoring that captures performance in various domains of systems management and administration. It looks into whether practitioners and leaders can access data and evidence to support informed decision-making, the level of stakeholder involvement in the governance of VET, the quality and capacity of staff in leadership positions, and the degree of internationalisation Additionally, monitoring the human and financial resources allocated to the VET system helps assess if these resources support effective teaching, training and learning.
The VET system of Morocco displays a mix of organisational strengths and weaknesses. An apparent stand-out strength is the extent to which external stakeholders are actively engaged in the governance of VET in areas including vocational training policy and the development of competence-based learning approaches.
Additionally, the VET system does not appear effective at communicating its performance and results, which means the general public and stakeholders lack an understanding of what and how the system can deliver for learners.
When it comes to the sufficiency of financial resources invested in VET and the proper management of human resources supplied to the system, Morocco’s VET system appears to perform well.
The active engagement of external stakeholders in VET system governance, policy development, and the development of competence-based learning approaches is a notable strength of VET in Morocco. However, there is room for improvement in the area of international collaboration and peer exchanges, which could be an important source of learning and development for teachers and trainers. While the financial adequacy and human resource management of the system appear to be a system strength, a closer examination reveals disparities among individual VET providers, with disadvantaged ones often grappling with resource shortages. This situation needs attention as these shortages are likely to impact their capacity to meet the educational expectations of learners.
Promoting access and participation in opportunities for lifelong learning
Supporting quality and relevance of lifelong learning
Index of system performance
International comparability of performance results
Evidence for this monitoring was collected and analysed from September 2022 until March 2023. In addition to the internationally comparable indicators covered by the Torino Process monitoring framework, a supplementary questionnaire for national authorities and stakeholders in Morocco was used to gather additional information.
In addition to messages about system performance, the monitoring delivers information about the international comparability of results of each country, the extent to which these results might be susceptible to bias, and how self-critical a country is when it reports about its policy and system performance for external monitoring purposes.
On a scale from 0 (least internationally comparable) to 100 (fully internationally comparable), the overall comparability of monitoring results for Morocco is 22 out of 100. The results of Morocco are somewhat susceptible to bias with a vast majority of results relying on self-assessment rather than quantitative scoring.