Career guidance and vocational education to play a heightened role in Lebanon’s recovery

As Lebanon’s educational sector struggles to recover from war, with more than half of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students’ learning impacted, and 436 general education and TVET institutions damaged, career guidance is taking on added importance in supporting the country’s recovery.

A ‘Peer Learning Activity on Career Guidance’ event organised by the ETF in Turin for members of Lebanon’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Directorate General of Vocational and Technical Education (DGVTE), the Ministry of Labour, the Chamber of Commerce of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and UNICEF, enabled participants to engage with the latest approaches to career guidance and the school-to-work transition, as well as to visit TVET schools.

The event came at an opportune time as Lebanon updates its national curriculum for the first time in 30 years. Cooperation is also to be heightened with the private sector to provide vocational education and employment opportunities.

“In Turin we saw how Italy pragmatically coordinates between all those involved in career guidance, and how it is not just related to the Ministry of Education but also involves industries and the private sector, which for us is something new. We don’t yet have such a system, which is needed to complete the whole puzzle, to improve coordination,” says Dr Hilda Khoury, Director of the General Directorate of Education – Counselling and Guidance Directorate at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education – UNESCO, in Beirut.

“By visiting TVET schools, we got a clearer understanding of what we should do, and it came at a good time as we have a new curriculum, in which career guidance will be embedded,” says Dr Khoury. 

Lebanon’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) has been working with the ETF on career guidance provision at the secondary education level, with a pilot system underway at 20 schools, later to expand to 50 institutions before being rolled out to the country’s 1,200 public schools and 1,600 private schools as the new curriculum goes into force in the coming years. 

Damage assessment: The impact of the conflict on education

The MEHE has had to grapple with developing a new curriculum amid two wars over the past three years. The conflict earlier this year took a heavy toll, according to a new report, with 44 public TVET institutions and 24 private facilities affected, and 254 public schools and 114 private schools. Out of 436 educational facilities affected, 101, some 23 percent, were severely damaged or destroyed. Available data indicates that some 200,000 learners enrolled in schools in war-affected areas experienced severe disruption to their education – around 27% of all learners – while 33,000 out of 58,000 students enrolled at TVET institutions were affected. 

“Facilities were destroyed, students were displaced, and some of the facilities had to close as they were housing displaced persons so couldn’t operate. Despite the challenges we are trying to keep projects going and to be flexible, as some students no longer have official documents. It has been very hard,” says Diana Hammoud, a consultant at the DGVTE on cooperation with international organisations. 

The DGVET works with 158 public training institutes and accredits some 250 private training providers.

The war has given further impetus for additional support to students, from well-being to special needs and social cohesion, as well as psycho-social support. “The situation is very severe, especially the well-being of the children and the damage to schools,” says Dr Khoury. 

Career guidance needed for all

With over 1.2 million people, around one-fifth of Lebanon’s population, having been displaced during the war, education and training were impacted. TVET is to be a core part of countering such disruption as students seek future employment. 

“We are expecting high enrolment in public TVET after the wars and the crisis,” says Hammoud.

Such training and career guidance are needed beyond higher educational institutions as unemployment levels have risen in Lebanon in recent years, with the visit to Turin highlighting that such support should not be confined to the youth. 

“Adult career guidance and training is something we can think about, as while we have an age bracketed approach at our institution, this hadn’t come to our attention,” says Hammoud. 

The DGVTE has been working with the ETF on entry level career guidance, and with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to establish a Job Search Club “to help students write CVs, search for decent jobs, and know where they can go with the skills they acquire,” says Hammoud.

Public-private sector dialogue for skills and employment

The private sector plays a key part in going beyond career guidance to enable on-site training and work, with the Turin event enabling the Chamber of Commerce of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, which has some 10,000 private sector members, to interact with Lebanese public institutions and assess their provisional role. 

“The event highlighted the importance of building a solid support ecosystem around the youth, to ensure a smooth transition to the labour market. And it was impressive to visit Second Chance schools, for school drop-outs, which is a model we don’t have here, as we have the more classical approach towards education,” says Hana Nehme, Director of Human Resources and Projects at the Chamber.

The visit to the Regione Piemonte’s Directorate for Education, Training and Labour also showed Nehme how a directorate can “play the role of chef d’orchestre – the conductor – in consolidating data from schools on career guidance to inform policy-based decisions and have all parties play a complementary role.” With Lebanon lacking solid figures and cooperation fragmented, Nehme says it “was good to see such exemplary partnerships to ensure the transition of the youth to the labour market.”

"Career guidance is most effective when it connects education, employment services, employers and communities. As Lebanon advances its curriculum reform and recovery efforts, strengthening these connections can help learners make informed choices and build pathways into work," says Pilvi Torsti, Director of the European Training Foundation.

Career guidance, heightened cooperation between the public and private sectors, and external support are expected to drive forward Lebanon’s reconstruction and economy. “We cannot rebuild without education and career guidance, for people to have the right skills to get a job,” says Dr Khoury.

Career guidance, skills development and the transition from education to employment will be among the themes discussed at the Torino Skills Summit. Find out more about the Summit and its programme