Morocco 2024

Key takeaways

The 2024 Torino Process system report for Morocco highlights the sustained popularity of initial VET programmes, where applications consistently exceed available places. However, adult participation in VET remains low, reflecting persistent barriers to lifelong learning. Structural challenges, such as limited pathways between vocational and general education, continue to restrict educational mobility. Although the system has made some progress in enabling first-time access and supporting learner progression, these improvements are largely relative, stemming from slower advancements in other countries rather than significant national developments.

While VET graduates in Morocco remain employable, outcomes have declined slightly since 2023, raising concerns about the alignment of training with labour market needs. Work-based learning remains underdeveloped, with school-based training models prevailing. However, the integration of green and digital skills into VET curricula exceeds international averages, and effective career guidance services contribute to positive graduate outcomes. Ongoing efforts to align training programmes more closely with labour market demands show promise but require further action to address these challenges comprehensively.

Governance is reported to be a strength of Morocco’s VET system, supported by active policy development and competence-based approaches. Yet disparities in resources, including staff shortages and inadequate infrastructure, have worsened since 2023, disproportionately affecting disadvantaged providers. Limited international collaboration further restricts innovation and opportunities for global engagement. Addressing these resource disparities, persistent gender gaps, and deficiencies in adult learning will be essential to enhancing the system’s impact and ensuring more equitable access to high-quality vocational training.

Access to learning

Monitoring in the area of access to and participation to learning helps countries assess the extent to which initial VET (IVET), continuing VET (CVET) and other learning opportunities are accessible and attractive to all learners, regardless of their individual backgrounds or reasons for participating. The data also reflects how well learners can expect to progress through and graduate from these learning opportunities.

Opportunities for lifelong learning: access and participation

The 2024 Torino Process monitoring results for Morocco highlight ongoing disparities in access and the attractiveness of its VET system. IVET programmes remain a strong and competitive option, with applications consistently exceeding available places. This reflects high demand and a perception of relevance, supported by a diverse and selective IVET offering. However, access to CVET and lifelong learning opportunities remains limited, with system performance in these areas falling behind the international average. Although CVET programmes are generally free, their accessibility and appeal have not improved since 2023, and Morocco’s relative performance has declined as other countries have advanced.

Participation in VET programmes faces persistent challenges, particularly in supporting successful transitions and educational progression. Structural barriers limit movement between vocational and general education pathways, with Morocco’s horizontal permeability score dropping significantly in 2024, signalling increasing rigidity in the system. Opportunities for IVET graduates to advance to higher education remain constrained, emphasising the need for reforms to promote smoother transitions. Slight improvements in first-time access to IVET and learner progression were observed, but these gains are attributed more to slower progress in other countries than to significant national achievements.

While pathways remain rigid and adult learning opportunities limited, IVET programmes continue to attract young learners due to their perceived alignment with labour market needs. Addressing structural and systemic barriers will be essential to boosting participation across all learner groups. Expanding targeted interventions for CVET and lifelong learning, along with increasing flexibility in VET pathways, will be critical to unlocking the full potential of VET in Morocco.

The 2024 Torino Process monitoring results for Morocco show ongoing disparities in access and the attractiveness of its VET system. Demand for IVET programmes remains high, with applications exceeding available places. This reflects their perceived relevance. Access to CVET and lifelong learning remains limited, and Morocco’s relative performance has declined as other countries have progressed. Structural barriers continue to limit transitions between vocational and general education, and IVET graduates face restrictions when entering higher education. First-time access and learner progression have improved slightly, but these gains result more from slower progress elsewhere than from national advances. Expanding CVET, improving lifelong learning opportunities, and increasing flexibility in VET pathways are essential to strengthening the system’s effectiveness.

The Torino Process is a regular review of national systems of vocational education and training as well as adult education. It is designed to analyse the ways in which national VET systems (including adult education) address the challenges of human capital development in a lifelong learning perspective. It was established by the European Training Foundation (ETF) in 2010 and has been carried out in partner countries in Southeastern Europe, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean ever since.

Monitoring in the context of the Torino Process describes the extent to which countries deliver on their commitments to learners in support of their learning through life (lifelong learning - LLL) in three major areas of policy and system performance: access to learning, quality of learning, and system organisation.

Quality of learning

Quality and relevance of learning is the area of monitoring that identifies how successfully the VET system provides basic skills and key competences to both young and adult learners. It highlights the relevance of VET programmes to the world of work and how effectively VET graduates transition into the labour market. Additionally, it monitors efforts to promote excellence across key domains, including pedagogy, professional development, programme content, governance, and social inclusion, as well as the openness of the VET system to innovation in response to the evolving needs of learners and labour markets.

Lifelong learning outcomes: quality and relevance, excellence and innovation

VET in Morocco is forward-looking, with green and digital skills increasingly integrated into curricula. However, challenges remain in delivering high-quality foundational skills to youth. While there has been slight improvement in performance, with reduced rates of underachievement in reading, mathematics, and science since 2023, outcomes remain below international averages. This underscores the need for targeted interventions to bridge the gap. In contrast, adult learners are more likely to possess foundational competences, as they benefiting from improved literacy rates and better access to digital resources. Yet, a decline in ICT skills among adults highlights ongoing challenges in achieving comprehensive digital literacy.

The employability of VET graduates, previously a strength, has declined significantly since 2023. Although employers value the skills provided by Morocco’s predominantly school-based VET system, the lack of work-based learning opportunities limits alignment with labour market needs. Career guidance continues to be a strong point, exceeding international benchmarks and contributing to positive graduate outcomes despite other systemic weaknesses. However, the responsiveness of the VET system to immediate labour market demands has fallen behind international peers, highlighting the need for stronger collaboration between VET providers and employers.

In terms of excellence and innovation, Morocco’s VET system has made sizeable progress in integrating forward-looking themes. Green skills are now well-represented in curricula, with SPI scores increasing from 81 in 2023 to 90 in 2024. Similarly, digital skills have seen significant integration, supported by improved access to computers in VET institutions, leading to an SPI increase from 49 to 78 over the same period. Despite these advancements, gaps persist in teacher development, particularly in continuing VET, and limited progress in work-based learning undermines systemic innovation. Addressing these gaps and expanding support for participation and completion are critical next steps.

Morocco’s VET system has made progress in areas such as green and digital skills integration, but setbacks in foundational skills for youth and graduate employability remain concerning. While career guidance is a strength and adult literacy rates are robust, persistent gaps in work-based learning, teacher development, and responsiveness to labour market needs constrain the overall performance of VET and its impact. Expanding systemic innovation and addressing these shortcomings will be essential to improving outcomes for learners and meeting employer expectations.

System organisation

System organisation is the area of monitoring that captures performance across various domains of management and administration. It examines whether practitioners and leaders have access to data and evidence to support informed decision-making, the level of stakeholder involvement in VET governance, the quality and capacity of staff in leadership positions, and the degree of internationalisation. Additionally, monitoring the allocation of human and financial resources to the VET system helps assess whether these resources effectively support teaching, training, and learning.

System organisation: management and resourcing

VET in Morocco demonstrates a mix of organisational strengths and challenges. A key strength is the active involvement of external stakeholders in governance, particularly in shaping vocational training policies and competence-based learning approaches. This strong engagement supports effective system governance, but public accountability and transparency remain areas for improvement. Quality assurance results are rarely shared publicly, highlighting the need for greater openness in monitoring and evaluation practices.

While the system is open to domestic collaboration, international partnerships remain underdeveloped. Limited engagement with global initiatives restricts opportunities for peer learning and innovation, which could drive system-wide improvements and enhance teacher and provider development. Expanding international collaboration is critical for fostering innovation and aligning VET in Morocco with international best practices.

Financial resources are generally adequate, but the availability of material and human resources has deteriorated significantly. Staff shortages have worsened, and many institutions report insufficient material resources, with disadvantaged providers particularly affected.

System performance in securing material resources experienced an even more significant decline, These resource shortages disproportionately affect disadvantaged providers, deepening inequities within the system. The disparities contribute to inequities within the system, undermining the overall quality of vocational training.

Morocco’s VET system benefits from strong stakeholder engagement in governance and adequate financial resources, but challenges in transparency, internationalisation, and resource equity limit its overall effectiveness. Addressing resource shortages and inequities, improving transparency, and fostering global collaboration will be essential for enhancing the system’s inclusiveness and responsiveness to the needs of learners and employers.

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

In addition to messages about system performance, the Torino Process monitoring delivers information about the international comparability of results of each country, the extent to which these results may be susceptible to bias, and how self-critical a country is when it reports about its policy and system performance for external monitoring purposes. This is possible because the monitoring methodology foresees keeping accurate records about the availability, origin and type of evidence used to calculate the monitoring results for each country, including Morocco.

The monitoring results for Morocco are at a relatively low risk of bias compared to most countries in the Torino Process, with nearly half of the data for 2023 and 2024 based on quantitative evidence. Morocco’s self-assessments of its VET and lifelong learning systems are generally more positive than those of other countries in the process. The international comparability of monitoring data for Morocco has improved since 2023, further strengthening its position among the top-performing countries in this area. Even before this improvement, Morocco ranked in the highest quartile, well above the international average for data comparability.