Palestine 2023
Key takeaways
Access to initial VET (IVET) programmes in Palestine is relatively straightforward, but adult participation in education, including continuing VET (CVET) and employment service training, is much weaker. Both IVET and CVET in Palestine face challenges in helping students complete their courses and transition to further education or employment. Compared to other countries, fewer students graduate or advance successfully. This shows the need for better support, clearer pathways for learners, and measures to reduce the risk for students of dropping out.
The VET system in Palestine performs well in teaching basic skills to both youth and adults and supports the shift towards green and digital societies. It performs well compared to other countries also in providing young learners with in-demand competencies like IT. However, a major challenge is connecting the VET system with the labour market. There is no systemic approach to integrating work-based learning, and VET graduates struggle with low employability. In response, the authorities are creating a national committee for the development of a national qualifications framework that aims to align VET more closely with the needs of employers.
Participatory governance in VET is strong in Palestine, supported by a solid tradition of stakeholder involvement. However, employer participation remains a challenge. The National Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (National Commission) is addressing these gaps by developing a strategic plan and establishing coordination structures. Another concern is the limited data on VET and gaps in public accountability for evaluating programmes – gaps which highlight the need for more reliable quality assurance. School leaders in VET have the skills and capacity to manage their institutions effectively, though international exposure for both professionals and students remains limited. The amount and allocation of financial resources in VET may need to be reassessed to improve the impact of spending.
Access to learning
Monitoring in the area of access to and participation to learning helps countries assess the extent to which initial VET, continuing VET 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.
Learners in VET can move between vocational and general education tracks fairly easily but graduating and progressing to higher education remain difficult. The requirement to pass the high school exam (Tawjihi) makes it harder for students to advance in the system, reinforcing the perception that VET may be a dead-end educational path. To address this and prepare graduates for the Tawjihi, the government is expanding training options, including offering courses in the afternoons and evenings for adults. As learner needs evolve, it is crucial to improve pathways to higher education in vocational fields and strengthen links between education and the labour market, making VET programmes more relevant and attractive to learners.
CVET programmes in Palestine face challenges related to location, funding, and relevance to the labour market. Women, especially those with caregiving responsibilities or in lower-paying jobs, are less likely to participate in these programmes. The absence of a national qualifications framework also limits the ability of CVET graduates to pursue further education.
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.
However, there are challenges in linking the VET system with the labour market. Apprenticeship schemes are limited, and work-based learning is not yet fully integrated into VET. Despite notable efforts, such as the 83 WBL initiatives launched with over 200 companies, the employability of VET graduates remains below the level seen in other countries in the Torino Process, on average. Career guidance is also insufficient, and the responsiveness of VET to labour market needs requires improvement.
The promotion of excellence in VET is a key policy priority in Palestine. The focus is on improving the quality of learning outcomes and modernising the skills delivered through VET. To achieve this, authorities have introduced initiatives to enhance teacher training and align curricula with labour market needs. Programmes such as the TVET4Future of UNESCO have supported these efforts by training hundreds of teachers, helping to build a foundation for future-oriented VET education.
VET in Palestine performs well in teaching essential skills to youth and adults, and VET curricula take into consideration the green and digital transitions. However, there are persistent challenges in connecting VET to the labour market. Apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities remain limited, and graduate employability is lower than in other countries, on average. Efforts are underway to address these issues, including plans to launch a Labour Market Information System and establish a national qualifications framework. Excellence and innovation are high on the agenda, with initiatives to improve teacher training, align curricula with market needs, and enhance governance through Sector Skills Councils.
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.
Another challenge lies in the limited availability of reliable data for informed decision-making. Data fragmentation within the VET system makes it difficult to form clear strategies or assess the system’s performance effectively. To address these issues, the National Commission plans to establish a unified database (MIS-TVET) to consolidate information and improve the capacity for evidence-based decision-making. This step is expected to enhance the monitoring and management of the VET system, making it easier to track student outcomes, resource allocation, and labour market needs.
Improvements are also needed in how the quality of VET programmes is monitored and ensured. The Accreditation and Quality Assurance Committee has started licensing higher education institutions and drafting standards for VET, but reliable systems to ensure and publicly share quality results are still missing. While leadership in VET is stronger than in many other countries, supported by recruitment and professional development efforts, international exposure for VET professionals and students remains limited.
Like in many other countries, VET in Palestine struggles to involve employers in the governance of its VET system. The National Commission is addressing this by forming sector skills councils. Another issue is the limited availability and consistency of data on VET, which, together with gaps in quality assurance, hinders effective planning and performance assessments. It is hoped that the planned unified database will provide an effective remedy. Funding for VET remains a concern as well, with both public and private sources being insufficient and threatening the long-term sustainability of VET. While human resource management is strong, more investment is needed to address teacher and trainer shortages.
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 Palestine.
The monitoring results of Palestine are the least comparable among the countries participating in the Torino Process. They are also highly susceptible to bias in international comparison due to a lack of internationally comparable data. Despite these challenges, and the reliance on self-assessment responses for most of the results, Palestine takes a balanced and neutral approach in evaluating the performance of its VET system. The monitoring results are neither overly critical nor overly positive.