Education authorities and state institutions should increase efforts to implement European initiatives in education and training, e.g. key competences, qualifications frameworks and quality assurance, to strengthen their links with the EU and avoid falling behind internationally. This should involve the development of a new VET strategy to pay particular attention to sectors with high growth potential and wider developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt smart specialisation strategies.

The current arrangements could be strengthened significantly if the Conference of Education Ministers established indicators that could be related to each of the frameworks and progressively followed by a monitoring secretariat.

A monitoring approach that makes progress more visible would improve the speed of implementation. The work of the Standing Conference of Education Ministers could lead this by developing a new state-wide cooperative partnership agreement on skills development with key targets for the implementation of policies and their alignment with EU developments. A state-wide standing group on VET could track this process.

This would also assist Bosnia and Herzegovina in representing its different systems at an international level, as it is currently difficult for the external systems to engage with, or follow, progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Career guidance services need to be expanded to include pupils prior to entering secondary education in order to make them more aware of career opportunities.

The elements of career education that already exist in school curricula should be evaluated in the light of this proposed expansion. It is recommended that these measures are accompanied by a comprehensive career information system (web-based and interactive) that should also target parents.

The pilot career centres set up by Swisscontact should be evaluated, with their further development potentially providing a model for all VET providers.

In order to promote work-based learning within more schools and companies, as well as to different target groups (including both young people and adults), the national regulation on work-based learning should be adopted, and supporting tools and instruments developed. The training and employment of business relations coordinators, one from each vocational school, should be made a priority.

The lessons learnt through the many donor projects that helped to successfully promote and implement work-based learning should be made available for other vocational schools.

It is recommended that the by-law on sector skills committees be adopted in order to clear the way for their implementation, and that a pilot programme be launched with one or two committees. Based on the experiences of this pilot, further specifications for sector skills committees may be defined.

The Albanian Qualification Framework should be fully implemented and used for the quality assurance of vocational education and training programmes, in particular those offered by the many private and not-for-profit training providers.

Ensuring better access to resources (teachers and trainers, facilities, equipment, tools and instruction material) that support learning processes should be addressed by the national VET provider development plan. One of the major objectives of the national plan should be to enable a more efficient and effective use of all learning resources (see also R.2).

The course on basic didactics in vocational education and training should be made compulsory for all new teachers and instructors that lack initial pedagogical training. It is also recommended that the length of this course should be extended in the medium term to cover additional topics.

Guidance should be provided and staff time set aside so that all schools in Albania can offer mentoring to their teachers.

In order to enable NAVETQ to fulfil its new coordination function with regard to VET teacher training, the necessary legal acts should be adopted. Furthermore, NAVETQ needs to be equipped with adequate additional human and financial resources.

School Development Units should be empowered to address the development needs of teachers and vocational schools.

Targeted continuing professional development and collaborative work should be used to generate instructional materials (see also R.5).

Considering the low educational attainment and skills levels of many people who have already left school, it is recommended that a new type of recuperative, second-chance education and training programme for adults be set up. Such a programme would combine basic Albanian language, maths, foreign language and ICT skills with vocational skills. The main focus of such a scheme would be less on completing formal education, but rather on the economic empowering of people, building on their existing skills and aspirations. Further, apprenticeship schemes for adults could help to foster integration into the labour market.

It is proposed that a national VET provider development plan should be formulated to take a holistic view of individual, social and economic needs. Particular attention should be paid to providing an attractive mix of study programmes (in particular for girls and students with a weaker academic background); better and affordable transport facilities; more and safer dormitories; and improved access to school facilities for students with disabilities. Further, the government could consider extending scholarship programmes in order to improve access to vocational education and training.

For a better understanding of the phenomenon of young people leaving education early in Albania, it is recommended that the system be monitored more closely with a view to answering the following questions: Who is leaving the system? When are students leaving the system? Why are students leaving the system?

More and better data will also help to design the mix of both preventative measures and initiatives that focus on the reintegration of early school leavers.