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  • POLICIES FOR HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN TURKEY

POLICIES FOR HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN TURKEY

A Torino Process ETF assessment

Turkey
Type
TRP assessment report
Authors
Helmut Zelloth, ETF expert
Year
2020
Full report

pdfen

Executive summary

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Context

This European Training Foundation (ETF) assessment provides an external, forward-looking analysis of the country's human capital development issues and VET policy responses from a lifelong learning perspective. It is based on evidence contained in Turkey's National Torino Process Report, which was compiled in 2019 using a standardised questionnaire (the National Reporting Framework – NRF) and additional information sources, including international analyses.

The report comes at the right time, as the Turkish Government has recently set ambitious goals to move from a middle-income to a high-income country and to enter the top-10 global economies. Policymakers are well aware that this can be only achieved if education and employment policies are able to transform and improve the country's human capital. The Education Vision 2023 aims to contribute to these goals and has set new priorities in all areas of education, including vocational education and training (VET).

However, despite the advanced level that Turkey's economy has already reached and the significant reforms that have taken place in education and training – with others still ongoing – substantial challenges in human capital development and use remain.

Findings on human capital

Turkey has made substantial progress in human capital formation, especially in improving access to various levels of education, as acknowledged by EU benchmarks or OECD policy reports. However, as far as most education and training indicators are concerned, wide gaps remain between Turkey and comparable countries in the EU and OECD.

As a large country in an age of digitalisation, Turkey is facing manifold human capital development challenges. In economic terms, the most pressing of these relate to making the transformation from low to advanced technology and from a middle- to a high-income country; boosting productivity and tackling the impact of automation; and mitigating the effects of the urban-rural divide in an increasingly urbanised society in order to provide career opportunities for a young population, as well as reskilling and upskilling the adult workforce, including a huge number of refugees.

Economic transformation calls for enhanced adult learning

The ETF assessment found that the economic transformation already happening, allied to the current ambitious policy goals, call for enhanced adult learning opportunities – in particular with regard to those people working in sectors at high risk of automation as well as for the low-skilled and groups vulnerable to social exclusion. While initial education and training will remain important as a foundation for all, the relative importance of adult learning is expected to increase as reskilling and upskilling for new jobs becomes more crucial for employability. However, adults in Turkey seem to be less prepared for the future than their peers in other countries.

While another source of increased demand for adult learning may come from the relatively low educational attainment of the population, there is strong evidence that the level of participation in learning and training provision in Turkey remains comparatively weak.

Skills mismatch calls for higher VET participation and more effective VET provision

In recent years two other interlinked phenomena can be observed which are exerting a negative impact on human capital development and use in Turkey. The first is the shrinking pool of skills supply for the economy, as evidenced by the decreasing VET participation rate, including apprenticeships. The second is the persistence of skills mismatches (both vertical and horizontal) that undermine the potential of human capital in the country. Paradoxically, VET is also affected by skills mismatch, indicating the need for more effective VET provision and career guidance.

Stagnating and comparatively limited opportunities for adult learning combined with decreasing VET participation and high level of skills mismatch are serious concerns for human capital development and constrain growth and employability in the country.

The ETF suggests that these areas should become an immediate policy priority. In particular, the working-age population in Turkey needs to be empowered to cope with the economic transformation that is already happening and is likely to accelerate in the near future.

Recommendations for action

Improving interlinkages between initial VET and continuing VET/adult learning

Initial VET and continuing vocational education and training need to be much more closely linked, and even dovetailed, since the importance of a lifelong learning perspective is steadily increasing in the context of digital transformation. This could offer people new and more competitive career perspectives, as well as making initial VET more attractive in comparison to general and higher education.

Tackling skills mismatch in VET as a key priority

The strong horizontal skills mismatch that exists for graduates from the VET system needs to be further researched and also monitored more frequently. Comparisons need to be made with graduates from apprenticeships, and the current VET fields and branches should be reviewed to assess whether they still correspond to present-day and anticipated labour market needs. This should be made a top priority, and carried out in cooperation with business organisations in the country. Valuable information gained from this undertaking could enrich Turkey's modern E-Graduate Monitoring Portal, managed by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE).

Expanding adult learning opportunities

Turkey needs a longer-term vision and strategy for adult learning which is more prominently positioned within a wider lifelong learning (LLL) strategy and the Education Vision 2023. To support the development of a longer-term strategy for adult learning, a comprehensive and holistic review of adult learning policies and practices in Turkey should be carried out. This could reveal if there was insufficient provision in certain areas, such as education and training for adults with low skills, or in particular regions. The current financing of adult learning and funding schemes should be revisited and the overall education budget gradually rebalanced in favour of adult learning.

Developing a system of career guidance

An expansion and redesign of the career guidance services is recommended, and a coherent national system should be developed. The Turkish career guidance services need to become more effective in order to make a real contribution to human capital development. The future career guidance system should include adult guidance services, especially for those most in need, including women who are not involved in education or the labour market, refugees and migrants, and other vulnerable groups.

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Table of Contents

  • PREAMBLE
  • EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
    • Context
    • Findings on human capital
    • Economic transformation calls for enhanced adult learning
    • Skills mismatch calls for higher VET participation and more effective VET provision
    • Recommendations for action
      • Improving interlinkages between initial VET and continuing VET/adult learning
      • Tackling skills mismatch in VET as a key priority
      • Expanding adult learning opportunities
      • Developing a system of career guidance
  • 1. INTRODUCTION
    • 1.1 About this assessment
    • 1.2 Country overview
      • Global player facing national and international challenges
      • A long-lasting and challenging EU accession process
    • 1.3 Strategic context
  • 2. HUMAN CAPITAL: DEVELOPMENT AND CHALLENGES
    • 2.1 Overview
    • 2.2 Sustainable development and human capital
      • Sustainable development – challenges for education, gender equality and health
      • Human development – steadily improving but inequality in the distribution
    • 2.3 Inequalities – reducing the potential of human capital
      • Regional disparities and income inequalities
    • 2.4 Changing demand for human capital
      • The transformation to high-tech production and to a high-income country
      • The youngest population in Europe – demographic dividend?
      • Refugees' integration in education and the labour market
    • 2.5 Educational and labour market challenges in human capital development
      • More strategic and efficient investment in education is needed
      • Underdeveloped quality of education
      • Underused labour potential of women and youth
  • 3. ASSESSMENT OF KEY ISSUES AND POLICY RESPONSES
    • 3.1 Economic transformation calls for enhanced adult learning
      • High risk of automation
      • Low education attainment level
      • Demand and supply for adult learning
      • Policy responses
        • Building on tradition and strengthening the institutional basis
      • Policies to involve non-state actors
        • Recognition and validation of prior learning
        • Introducing lifelong learning policies in line with the EU
        • New Education Vision 2023
      • Policy recommendations
        • Longer-term vision of adult learning as part of LLL
        • Review of adult learning policies and practices
        • No longer the 'Cinderella' of the education system
        • Better cooperation and coordination mechanisms
        • Tackling recurrent issues more vigorously
        • Taking adult guidance seriously
    • 3.2 Skills mismatch calls for higher VET participation and more effective VET provision
      • The availability of skilled labour at risk through declining VET participation
      • Skills mismatch undermining the potential of human capital
      • Higher employment prospects through VET
      • Is VET a major cause of horizontal skills mismatch?
      • The low status of VET coupled with a strong belief in the return of investment in higher education
      • The admission system reinforces the low status of VET
      • Policy responses
        • Fostering apprenticeships – making it part of the formal education system
        • Changing access conditions from VET to higher education
        • Policies to improve the demand and image of VET
        • New VET vision for 2023
      • Policy recommendations
        • Improving interlinkages between initial VET and continuing VET/adult learning
        • Tackling skills mismatch in VET as a key priority
        • More effective VET provision through quality work-based learning (WBL)
        • System development of career guidance needed
  • 4. CONCLUSIONS
  • ACRONYMS
  • REFERENCES
  • Summary of recommendations
  • The education and training system of Turkey
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The European Training Foundation is a European Union agency that helps transition and developing countries harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems, and in the context of the EU's external relations policy. Based in Turin, Italy, the ETF has been operational since 1994.
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