Albania

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.