3. ASSESSMENT OF KEY ISSUES AND POLICY RESPONSES

Rapidly ageing countries like Albania need to explore options to restructure education and training programmes and institutions that are threatened by rapidly falling student numbers. At the same time, they cannot afford to leave anyone behind. The central task becomes focusing on those who have been less likely to participate in education and training in the past and to increase the labour market participation of untapped pools of labour, such as women, the unemployed and inactive, discouraged jobseekers and those working in the informal economy.

After the completion of nine years' compulsory education, learners in Albania can choose between academically oriented gymnasiums or schools that offer vocational education programmes. While general upper secondary education lasts for three years, vocational education programmes can vary from two to four years. The vast majority of students who choose the VET track complete four years of vocational education, which allows them to enter post-secondary education and/or higher education. Vocational education is currently offered in 35 public vocational schools.

The percentage of students in public vocational education programmes compared to total enrolments in upper secondary education (ISCED 3) has increased from 15.7% in 2013 to 18.2% in 2019. The proportion of females in vocational education has declined over recent years, standing at 16.1% in 2019. Furthermore, female students in vocational education make up only 6.2% of the total number of learners in upper secondary education (ISCED 3).

Table 6: Students in vocational programmes as a percentage of the total upper secondary students (ISCED level 3)

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total	15.7	18.0	19.5	19.5	19.8	17.2	18.2
Male	22.7	25.1	28.6	29.3	29.7	31.0	28.8
Female	7.5	8.5	8.8	8.4	8.5	5.0	6.2

Sources: MoESY; MoFE; ETF database.

Compared to other countries in the Western Balkans region, the proportion of students in vocational education in Albania is still low. Figure 3 shows the share of students in vocational education as a percentage of the total upper secondary students for the six countries in the Western Balkans for the year 2017.

Figure 3: Western Balkans: Students in vocational programmes as a percentage of total upper secondary students (2017, ISCED level 3)

Nuotrauka

Sources: Unesco Institute for Statistics; ETF database. Chart: ETF.

In terms of absolute numbers, Albania's vocational education system is very small. In 2019, some 21 071 learners were enrolled in VET programmes (MoESY).

Table 7: Number of students enrolled in vocational programmes at upper secondary level of education (ISCED level 3)

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Total	24 288	26 681	27 267	25 428	25 119	20 605	21 287
Male	18 991	20 762	21 603	20 269	20 025	17 390	17 896
Female	5 297	5 919	5 664	5 159	5 094	3 215	3 391

Sources: MoESY; MoFE; ETF database.

A research report from the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM, 2016), commissioned by the Swiss-funded Skills for Jobs project, points to some of the reasons for the persistently low enrolment rates in vocational education:

There exists a strong stereotype across gender- and age-groups, regions and sectors that VET is a 'second hand' education; fit for 'poorly performing', 'problematic' students; with narrow and poor curricula; offering little opportunities for decent jobs; and offering little or no socio-cultural life for their students due to deep gender segregation. As a result the typical [environment of the] VET student in Albania is a mainstream, rural, man's world. Source: IDM, 2016, p. 100

In the years 2013 to 2017, between 3 136 (2014) and 4 507 (2016) students graduated from the three main types of programmes (2+1+1 years, 2+2 years and 4 years). The share of female graduates in this period ranged from 1 174 in 2013 to only 714 in 2015 (Instat). Each year around one-third of VET graduates enter the labour market. The remaining graduates either proceed to higher education or are unemployed or inactive.

Data from the Albanian National Employment Service (NES) suggest that the small number of graduates from vocational education falls short of labour market demand, a picture endorsed by the latest skills needs analysis (HDPC, 2017). In 2018, around 61 391 job vacancies were registered with NES (however, registering vacancies is not compulsory for companies). Some 59% of the vacancies were in ISCO major groups 4–8:

Clerical support workers (ISCO major group 4): 5.3%

Services and sales workers (ISCO major group 5): 9.1%

Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (ISCO major group 6): 0.7%

Craft and related trades workers (ISCO major group 7): 35.9%

Plant and machine operators, and assemblers (ISCO major group 8): 8.2%.

Occupations in ISCO major groups 4–8 usually require the completion of upper secondary education (ISCED-2011 level 3), including a significant component of specialised vocational education and on-the-job training. Some occupations may require the completion of vocation-specific training undertaken after graduation from secondary education (ISCED-97 level 4).

Elementary occupations (ISCO major group 9) accounted for 24.2% of the vacancies.

Between 2013 and 2018, the number of job vacancies for craft and related trades workers rose by 392%, from 4 481 (2013) to 22 068 (2018).

Around 79% of job vacancies (data for 2018) related to only five areas of economic activity: manufacturing (46.8%); communication and information (9.0%); administrative and support services (8.0%); construction (7.9%); and accommodation and food services (7.6%).

The latest skills needs analysis (HDPC, 2017) underpins the problems in job vacancy alignment: 32% of the foreign and joint-owned companies and 27% of state-owned businesses reported that the education system fails to meet economic demand, while this is less of a problem for Albanian-owned (8%) and privately owned companies (9%). State-owned companies mainly lack technical specialists, such as electricians or plumbers (HDPC, 2017, pp. 51–3).

Early school leaving is a serious issue in Albania. Early leavers from education and training face considerable difficulties in the labour market. For example, they may find it hard to obtain a secure foothold in the job market as employers may be reluctant to hire people with low levels of education.

Although the country has succeeded in reducing the proportion of early leavers, from 30.6% in 2013 to 17.4% in 2018, Albania's rates of early leaving are much higher than other countries in the Western Balkans, and also considerably exceed the EU 2020 benchmark (<10%). In terms of gender, the proportion of early leavers from education and training in 2018 in Albania was 1.9 percentage points higher for young men (18.3%) than for young women (16.4%).

Table 8: Early leavers from education and training (aged 18–24) (%)

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Albania	30.6	26.0	21.3	19.6	19.6	17.4
Bosnia and Herzegovina	6.7	5.8	5.2	4.9	5.1	5.4*
Montenegro	5.6	5.1	5.7	5.5	5.4	4.6
North Macedonia	11.4	12.5	11.3	9.9	8.5	7.1
Kosovo	18.4	16.5	14.5	12.7	12.2	m
Serbia	8.7	8.3	7.4	7.0	6.2	6.8

Notes: m = missing data; * unreliable due to small sample size.

Sources: ETF database; Eurostat.

A case study of two vocational schools and one Vocational Training Centre, undertaken in 2013, suggests that many students struggle with the types of programmes offered in vocational schools. Traditionally, students enrolled in vocational education have shown lower academic performance at compulsory school level and face difficulties with the theoretical content of the curricula, leading to poor learning outcomes, failure and dropping out (Xhumari and Dibra, 2016, p. 325).

The same study shows that girls prefer vocational schools with female-oriented programmes and that they avoid male-dominated vocational schools. This can make it difficult for them to find a nearby vocational school, in particular in rural areas, as most vocational schools are located in urban centres. Further, it has been shown that for students from disadvantaged families – for example where neither parents work – the distance to the vocational school and the costs of transport are very important factors. Accommodation in public dormitories is offered only to students who live far from the school and costs are subsidised for only some students (Xhumari and Dibra, 2016, pp. 326–7).

Little information exists on whether these issues prevent potential students only from enrolling in a vocational school or whether they also lead to early leaving from the entire education and training system. In general, more and better data is needed to understand the phenomenon of early leaving from education and training.

Vocational training is offered in Vocational Training Centres (VTCs), which fall under the responsibility of the National Employment Service. Public VTCs are located in the major cities of the country (Durres, Elbasan, Fieri, Gjirokaster, Korca, Shkodra, Vlora, and two centres in Tirana), with one mobile centre operating in the northeast of the country.

Vocational training courses are non-formal courses typically lasting between a few weeks and six months. Any adult can enrol in these programmes by paying a small fee, although unemployed jobseekers are exempt from such fees. Participants receive a certificate of attendance, which specifies the course taken.

The public vocational training system cannot be labelled as continuing training since young adults, as the main users, enrol in such courses either as a shorter alternative to attending formal secondary general or vocational education programmes, or to complement their initial education and training (i.e. through taking IT and foreign language courses). Table 9 below illustrates the growing VTC graduation numbers for the period 2012–2015, but also the declining numbers since then. In 2018, 8 770 unemployed jobseekers started a training course in a public Vocational Training Centre (NES).

Table 9: Participants in Vocational Training Centre courses (2012–2017)

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
VTC participants*	8 357	8 884	13 102	17 524	16 860	15 711
Participants who were unemployed jobseekers	2 668	3 218	8 098	13 887	12 710	9 461

Note: * those who completed the course and were certified.

Source: NES.

The total number of unemployed registered jobseekers was 64 781 in 2018, a sharp decline from three years earlier when 145 147 unemployed jobseekers were recorded (see Table 10). This is mainly due to more stringent criteria for registration with the Public Employment Service (PES), which include monthly reporting to the office and sanctions when job offers are refused. As a consequence, there is now less outreach to those in need of support. The share of under 25-year-olds among unemployed jobseekers was 10.6% in 2018, the second lowest percentage for the period 2014–2018. Over the past five years, female registered jobseekers have outnumbered males. In 2018 the difference was 5.6 percentage points.

Table 10: Number of registered jobseekers (unemployed) (2014–2018)

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Total	141 342	145 147	93 889	83 497	64 781
Male (%)	49.3%	49.6%	47.0%	47.0%	47.2%
Female (%)	50.7%	50.4%	53.0%	53.0%	52.8%
under 25 years	23 116	24 594	10 728	8 666	6 847
%	16.4%	16.9%	11.4%	10.4%	10.6%
25+ years	118 226	120 553	83 161	74 831	57 934
%	83.6%	83.1%	88.6%	89.6%	89.4%

Source: NES, ETF calculations.

In 2018, the coverage rate of unemployed jobseekers participating in Employment Promotion Programmes was 6.44%. The same rate for Active Labour Market Programmes, including labour market training, was 18.2% (NES).

Table 11 shows that young people under the age of 25 were well represented in training courses at public Vocational Training Centres in the period 2014–2018. Although they made up only between 10.4% (2017) and 16.9% (2015) of the registered jobseekers, they accounted for 39.1% (2018) to 49.1% (2015) of unemployed jobseekers who took part in a training course at a public Vocational Training Centre.

Table 11: Number of unemployed jobseekers who took part in a training course at a public Vocational Training Centre (2014–2018)

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Total	8 098	13 887	12 710	9 461	8 770
Male (%)	58.5%	59.2%	m	m	60.3%
Female (%)	41.5%	40.8%	m	m	39.7%
under 25 years	3 705	6 822	5 626	3 752	3 430
%	45.7%	49.1%	44.3%	39.7%	39.1%
25+ years	4 397	7 065	7 084	5 709	5 340
%	54.3%	50.9%	55.7%	60.3%	60.9%

Note: m = missing data.

Source: NES, ETF calculations.

Adult jobseekers in the 25+ age group were strongly under-represented in vocational training courses over this period. The same is true for women, who accounted for between only 39.7% and 41.5% of training participants (data are missing for the years 2016 and 2017).

A recent assessment of public Vocational Training Centres in Albania, undertaken by GIZ in 2017 (Heitmann and Shkreli 2017, p. 9), points to several factors that limit participation in non-formal short-term courses:

A lack of incentives or schemes which would encourage individuals and businesses to invest or co-invest in training, such as tax incentives or voucher schemes;

The limited availability of training offers in locations outside the bigger urban centres;

Courses that do not correspond to the needs of individuals and the regional business community;

An absence of courses for people with poor literacy skills; and lack of information about the training courses on offer.

To achieve a better understanding of the phenomenon of young people leaving education early in Albania, a closer monitoring of the education system is recommended, 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 in designing the mix of preventative measures and those that focus on the reintegration of early school leavers.

It is further recommended that a national VET provider development plan should take a holistic view of individual, social and economic needs (see also the recommendations in section 3.2). Particular attention should be given to providing an attractive mix of study programmes (in particular, courses aimed at girls and students with weaker academic backgrounds), as well as better and affordable transport facilities, more and safer dormitories, and improved access to school facilities for students with disabilities. In addition, the government could consider extending scholarship programmes in order to improve access to vocational education and training.

Considering the low educational attainment and skills levels of the many people who have already left school, Tahiraj and Viertel (2018) suggest 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 programmes would be less on completing formal education, but rather on the economic empowering of people, building on their existing skills and aspirations. Activation strategies to reach out to inactive or unemployed people may be needed to encourage participation. Participants may require support with the transport to get to the training place, and women may require childcare for the time of their training. In the absence of a demand for labour, training could be accompanied by financial and coaching support to promote business start-ups or expansion. (p. 61)

Furthermore, apprenticeship schemes for adults could help to foster integration into the labour market.

VET teachers and trainers are key drivers for the improvement of VET systems. They have the most important input into the VET system and are critical to the successful implementation of a range of reforms, including organisational changes and the development of the curriculum, work-based learning, technology and pedagogy. A 2019 study shows that the vast majority of vocational teachers and instructors have work experience in the branch of industry related to the subject they teach. However, the survey revealed that 41% of the instructors working in vocational schools had not completed an initial pedagogical training course before they started teaching, that is, as part of their degree studies (HDPC, 2019, p. 13).

Vocational schools have a formal responsibility to research training needs, as well as planning and organising continuing professional development, but, in practice, this duty is not carried out and little training is implemented. For instance, the HDPC survey found that only 70% of teachers in vocational schools had taken part in some kind of orientation at their new school, and less than 50% had undergone a formal induction process (HDPC, 2019, p. 55).

In general, no specific budget level has been allocated to continuing professional development either at the national or provider level. In past years, most of the costs of continuing professional development for vocational teachers and instructors have been covered by donors (HDPC, 2019, p. 45).

Training gaps in continuing professional development were found to be widest for issues related to addressing new technologies in the workplace (60%), educating students with special needs (54%), teaching cross-curricular skills (53%), and finding approaches to developing cross-occupational competencies for future work (52%) (HDPC, 2019, p. 61).

In 2014, a baseline survey looked at the internal efficiency and external effectiveness of the then 52 public VET providers in Albania (ETF and GIZ, 2014). The providers were assessed against 10 benchmarks, including: the quality and content of VET programmes and short-term courses; staff competence and development; the condition of facilities and equipment; organisation and management; and the work readiness and employability of graduates. The majority of VET providers were ranked as low performers, while six providers (11.5%) were rated as poor performers, and only one was classed as a high performer.

The ETF study on Continuing professional development for vocational teachers, instructors, principals and trainers in Albania supports these findings. It reveals that access to teaching and learning materials and equipment is still an issue in Albania. According to teachers in vocational schools, 20% of students have never/almost never or only occasionally access to appropriate, good quality instructional materials, i.e. textbooks. Further, the responding teachers said that 29% of students have never/almost never or only occasionally access to sufficient and appropriate consumables so that they can develop practical skills (HDPC, 2019, p. 33).

A similar study was carried out in 2017 (Heitmann and Shkreli, 2017) in order to assess the 10 public Vocational Training Centres. This assessment revealed a number of issues regarding the quality of the training programmes, namely: a lack of information on the training needs of the private sector; in certain cases, outdated curricula that were not in line with training needs; a lack of up-to-date facilities and equipment in some training centres, in particular for courses that were in strong demand, such as those for welders or cooks; and delays in recruiting part-time instructors (Heitmann and Shkreli, 2017, p. 28).

The 169 private and 19 not-for-profit training providers that were active in 2017 used mainly internal competence standards. Only 5% of the private training Institutions and none of the not-for-profit providers employed national competency standards (World Bank, 2017).

An accreditation system for VET providers is not yet in place; there exists only a general licensing procedure for all entities overseen by the National Centre for Business Services. Inspections of vocational schools have not taken place since 2013.

To address the problem of a lack of initial pedagogical training for teachers and instructors, a 24-day course on basic didactics in vocational education and training has been designed, approved and (since 2015) implemented by NAVETQ (Kuqi, 2018). There are plans to make this course compulsory for all new teachers and instructors in vocational schools.

The new VET Law assigns the responsibility of coordinating VET teacher training to NAVETQ. A respective draft by-law regarding NAVETQ has not yet been adopted, which means that, to date, no institution is formally in charge of this function. In addition, NAVETQ would require additional human and financial resources to discharge its new role. Funding for teachers' training remains a constraint in VET provision, and is insufficient to satisfy current needs.

The 2017 VET law provides for the setting up of School Development Units that would support continuing professional development at vocational schools, among other functions. However, these units have not yet become operational, as the necessary by-law, funding arrangements and appointments are not in place.

As a consequence of the baseline survey of public VET providers (ETF and GIZ, 2014), the then responsible Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (MoSWY) decided to rationalise the network of VET providers and establish so-called Multifunctional Centres that would offer initial vocational education and adult education and training under one roof. Since 2014, the number of vocational schools has been reduced from 42 to 35 and one Multifunctional Centre has been established in Kamza, based on a Decision of the Council of Ministers (DCM).

In 2018 the MoFE drafted a brief paper on the optimisation of public VET providers, proposing the establishment of 17 Multifunctional Centres to replace some of the currently existing 35 vocational schools and 10 Vocational Training Centres. However, the action plan included cost estimations for only a handful of Multifunctional Centres. It also lacked any concrete plans for the set of potential profiles and programmes which, according to existing skills supply and demand research, might be required to meet the national, regional and local skills needs of employers both currently and in the medium to long term. Ministerial orders to legalise the status of Multifunctional Centres have not yet been adopted. An institutional development plan has been approved only for the Kamza Multifunctional Centre and a few vocational schools.

However, a sub-legal act and a guideline for the self-assessment of VET providers have been developed and a self-assessment process rolled out nationwide.

The 24-day course on basic didactics in VET should be made compulsory for all new teachers and instructors who have not had initial pedagogical training. Further, it is recommended that the length of this course be extended in the medium term to cover additional topics in line with the recommendations of the mid-term evaluation.

In order to enable NAVETQ to fulfil its new coordination function with regard to VET teacher training, the necessary legal acts should be adopted. NAVETQ also needs to be equipped with adequate additional human and financial resources. A budget should be defined for the continuing professional development of vocational teachers at both the national and provider level.

An action plan should be published to implement School Development Units across Albania. These units should be empowered to address the development needs of teachers and vocational schools in cooperation with other actors such as NAVETQ, businesses, higher education institutions, municipalities and donors.

Targeted continuing professional development and collaborative work should be used to generate instructional materials. However, further investments in teaching and learning materials, including consumables for practical learning, are needed to permit high-quality education and training.

Many teachers and instructors do not receive mentoring. Training, guidance and staff time should be assigned to allow all schools in Albania to offer such a potentially beneficial option.

Enabling better access to resources (teachers and trainers, facilities, equipment, tools and instruction materials) that support learning processes should be addressed by the national VET provider development plan (see also section 3.1). One of the major objectives of the national plan should be to ensure a more efficient and effective use of all learning resources. Such a strategy should take into account the economic and social developments (i.e. skills needs and future industrial locations) in the respective catchment areas of the current and future VET providers (Multifunctional Centres, vocational schools and Vocational Training Centres), as well as demographic developments (i.e. birth rates, migration figures, etc.) and trends in educational choice (i.e. enrolment rates in compulsory schools, vocational schools and gymnasiums).

The Albanian Qualifications Framework (AFQ) could also be an effective tool to ensure the quality of the 169 private and 19 not-for-profit training providers and their offers. A draft DCM regulates the conditions for including the so-called 'lifelong learning qualifications' in the AQF. The DCM is still at the consultation stage.

Effective cooperation and coordination between the vocational education and training sector and business are essential to ensuring that qualifications and skills are relevant to the labour market. Cooperation and coordination usually involve a wide range of stakeholders – not only national employer and employee organisations and government ministries, but also schools and individual enterprises – and take place at more than one level (e.g. nationally, regionally, locally). The smooth running of stakeholder cooperation and coordination is indispensable for the successful provision of structured work-based learning, but is also essential where education and training are mostly provided in school-based programmes.

In Albania, social partners are members of the National Labour Council and its committee for skills and employment. They are also represented at national level in the Integrated Policy Management Group (IPMG), in its subgroup on employment and skills policies, which takes a wider sector perspective. The IPMG discusses the progress made against the objectives and targets of the National Employment and Skills Strategy and its Action Plan 2014–2020 (now extended to 2022). A national VET Council was established a few years ago but is currently not active.

Representatives from enterprises and business associations are occasionally involved in the development of occupational and qualifications standards, as well as in the development and validation of frame curricula. However, there is no systematic process for this, and to date, no sector skills committees have been set up. Nevertheless, there are plans to establish such committees in the near future, and to give them a strong role in the identification of sector skills needs and qualifications.

At the VET school level, the local business community is represented on the school governing board. Furthermore, in some cases business representatives act as assessors in final examinations and assist in the implementation of the practice modules.

Biznes Albania, an independent organisation of employers and business organisations has taken the lead in establishing the Chamber of Crafts, which will play a decisive role with regard to apprenticeship in the crafts sector.

The benefits of work-based learning for learners, employers and society are well established. Work-based learning provides learners with the opportunity to develop specific skills and knowledge in the workplace, but also to learn generic employability skills. It offers opportunities not only for professional development but also for personal growth, not least for less advantaged groups. Furthermore, work-based learning can facilitate the establishment of occupational or industry networks. VET programmes that combine work-based learning and tuition in the classroom can lead to improved employability, a faster school-to-work transition and better access to jobs.

Employers may benefit directly from the enhanced technical and job-specific skills of learners, graduates and employees. This can lead to higher productivity and growth. The enhanced recruitment potential of learners and graduates is another major benefit for enterprises in general.

In Albania, the national law allows for the provision of work-based learning in companies, and in theory all practical training could be implemented in the form of work-based learning. However, the legal framework has not been supplemented by the necessary by-laws, which would, for example, ensure the funding of work-based learning and stipulate the rights and obligations of both companies and students. There are also issues concerning a lack of resources in schools and businesses to organise cooperation and an insufficient number of companies willing and able to take part. Small enterprises in particular face difficulties in providing proper guidance and learning opportunities for students. As a result, work-based learning is not common practice in the country, and only a few programmes have compulsory work-based learning components (see Table 15).

Table 15: Secondary VET programmes and work-based learning in Albania (2015/16)

Type of programme	No. of programmes	With compulsory practical training	With compulsory WBL component	With learning outcomes for WBL	With assessment instruments for WBL
2+1+1-year	31	31	1	0	0
2+2-year	9	9	1	0	0
4-year	4	4	2	0	0

Source: ETF 2017.

A recent survey among teachers and instructors in vocational schools and Vocational Training Centres in Albania shows that access to work-based learning exists for only a minority of vocational learners (HDPC, 2019). According to teachers, only 38% of students receive at least 10% of their learning in the workplace, and 46% said that only some of their students have placements in companies (HDPC, 2019, pp. 29–30).

However, a number of vocational programmes have received substantial donor support, and in these cases the quality and amount of work-based learning has significantly improved. For instance, the vocational schools supported by the Swiss-funded Skills for Jobs project have established cooperative links with several hundred companies.

At present no systematic career guidance is provided for students within compulsory education, which may lead to students choosing the wrong programmes at secondary level. Parents have a major influence on students' choices for further education. In many cases, particularly for girls, it is the parents who make the decisions. However, there are elements of career education in lower secondary school curricula. In 2010/2011 'Education for life and career' was introduced in all secondary schools, comprising two new subjects – 'Skills for life' in the 10th grade and 'Career education' in the 11th grade. The latter also includes themes on entrepreneurship. Teachers have received training in this area, but more is needed. Some schools organise their own career orientation activities.

The Swisscontact Skills for Jobs project, funded by Swiss Development Cooperation, has led the way in setting up Career or (now called) Development Centres in its seven pilot VET institutions. These Development Centres incorporate all the new development functions in accordance with the 2017 VET Law, including liaison with businesses and career guidance for students. In general, two people per Centre have been trained and materials developed to carry out these functions. However, additional costs are covered by the project, rather than the Ministry.

For students in upper secondary education who plan to continue their education at post-secondary or tertiary level, limited guidance is offered by career offices or teachers in schools. Issues to be addressed here include the non-availability of a comprehensive bank of information, compiled by a central agency, which could be used to counsel students, and the limited abilities of school staff to undertake professional counselling activities.

Labour offices provide some guidance to unemployed jobseekers, those who intend to enter short vocational training or retraining courses, and those who wish to be involved in other active labour market initiatives. As part of the modernisation of the labour offices, better contacts between labour office staff and local employers, constant updating of the central vacancy database and major improvements in internet connections throughout the country, will mean that jobseekers can increasingly use their self-help facilities.

The topic of sector skills committees has been on the agenda for many years, and a common understanding of the main features of sector committees has been reached among stakeholders. A by-law on establishing sector committees, as one of the sub-legal acts under the Law on AQF, will pave the way to begin piloting sector skills committees.

In 2016, a Law on Craftsmanship was adopted and in 2017 a National Chamber of Crafts was established. The new Chamber of Crafts is intended to play a decisive role in setting up a dual training or apprenticeship system for craft trades. The Chamber's assembly and new president were appointed in 2017 and the MoFE approved its statutes in 2018. Decisions of the Council of Ministers on the question of financial support for the Chamber and the nature of the contracts between apprentice and employer have been prepared. State funding for a two-year period has been secured.

The MoFE and NAVETQ have drafted a national regulation on work-based learning. This by-law will regulate, among other issues: the roles and responsibilities of the main actors involved in work-based learning; the rights and obligations of students, vocational schools and training companies; the content and form of the internship contract; training content; and the assessment of work-based learning.

Albania's flexible approach to work-based learning requires effective planning and organisational capacities in vocational schools. For this reason, the MoFE and NAVETQ, in close cooperation with various donors, have been supporting business relations coordinators in a number of vocational schools. Recently, the role, functions and competence profile of business relations coordinators were defined in a draft sub-legal act on VET providers. However, this act has not yet been adopted. As a result there are currently only a few business relations coordinators operating in vocational schools.

Since 2014, the National Employment Service has placed a stronger emphasis on employment promotion programmes that offer on-the-job training for young people and adults. According to an assessment undertaken in 2014, on-the-job training (DCM 47) appears to be the most successful active labour market programme in Albania, having been shown to result in the highest increases in employment rates (ILO, 2014). In 2017, on-the-job training schemes accounted for 42% of all active labour market programmes' beneficiaries (2 224 recipients in 121 companies), absorbing 58% of the available funds for such initiatives (Shehaj, 2019, p. 14). A recent impact evaluation of employment promotion programmes in Albania confirmed the positive impact of the on-the-job training measure, stating that it increases the probability of gaining employment by 27.9%, compared with a control group (UNDP, 2019, p. 26).

The new VET law which was adopted in 2017 envisages career guidance as one of seven new development functions of vocational schools or Multifunctional Centres. To date, no progress has been made with regard to the adoption of the sub-legal act for VET institutions or in appointing staff for implementing the new development functions. However, the Swisscontact Skills for Jobs project has successfully set up pilot development centres in seven VET institutions.

The by-law on sector skills committees needs to be adopted in order to clear the way for the implementation of this measure. It is recommended that initially a pilot is launched establishing one or two committees. Based on the experience gained from the pilot, further specifications for sector skills committees may be defined.

The Chamber of Crafts needs to be adequately resourced and staffed so that it can carry out its new tasks with regard to apprenticeships in craft trades, for example maintaining a record of craft subjects and a register of craft training companies and apprentices.

Students, parents, vocational schools and, not least, companies need a legal framework that allows them to plan, organise and implement work-based learning in a reliable manner. To promote work-based learning in more schools and companies, and 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 have helped to successfully promote and implement work-based learning should be accessible to other vocational schools. This would require better coordination and stronger support from the MoFE and NAVETQ.

A further suggestion is investigating whether the currently implemented on-the-job training programmes are sufficiently tailored to the needs of unemployed jobseekers (e.g. vulnerable groups) and businesses. One of the key recommendations of the assessment from 2014 was that the skills needs of registered unemployed jobseekers should be better matched with the requirements of the business world. Further, data from the Public Employment Service point to high drop-out rates from on-the-job training programmes, with the main reason cited being the mismatch between the skills needs of the prospective jobseekers and the areas of training on offer (Shehaj, 2019, p. 15).

Career guidance services need to be expanded for pupils prior to entering secondary education in order to make them more aware of career opportunities – for example, those that can be accessed through vocational education and training – and to enable them to discover their talents and interests at an early stage in their schooling. An effective path could be the teaching of career management skills (through career education in the curriculum) coupled with personal guidance by qualified staff.

The elements of career education that already exist in school curricula should be evaluated in the light the proposed expansion of this service (in terms of hours per year as well extending career guidance to earlier grades prior to vocational education and training). This needs to be accompanied by a comprehensive career information system (web-based and interactive) that should also target parents, since they seem to be the most important providers of 'informal guidance' to their children.

In addition, the pilot career centres set up by Swisscontact need to be evaluated – their further development could provide a model for all VET providers in helping students choose their field/specialisation and develop employability skills, as well as supporting them in the transition from school to work.