Invest in foundational learning for youth skills development

Youth Skills Day on July 15 highlights the critical importance of equipping young people with the skills needed to thrive in the workforce. With the global youth population expected to peak in about 10 years, concrete policy action is becoming more pressing.

In fact, many countries, such as India and Brazil, have already seen their youth population (ages 15-24) reach their peak. Other countries, principally those in Africa, continue to experience rapidly growing young populations. By 2030, 42% of the global youth will likely come from Sub-Saharan African. The region’s working age population is expected to surpass that of both India and China soon.

Given the ongoing demographic shift, young people play an increasingly crucial role in unlocking their countries’ productivity and economic growth potential. However, the number of disengaged youth has likewise continued to rise. Over 20 percent of youth in low- and middle-income countries were not in education, employment, or training in 2023. For young women, this figure rises to more than 25 percent.

Underestimated gaps in foundational learning

Despite the key economic role that young people need to play, many lack foundational learning, such as basic literacy, numeracy, and transferrable skills. These foundational skills are essential building blocks for further human capital development and productive employment. In the majority of middle-income countries that participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2022, over 50 percent of 15-year-old students failed to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics and reading. PISA data highlight a significant gap in student’s foundational learning that will affect their employability and the broader economic and social development of countries in the 21^st century.

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET), with its unique emphasis on workforce development, can improve the employability of young people. TVET can effectively equip people with skills in various occupations, sectors, and livelihoods. It can do that at secondary, post-secondary, or tertiary education levels and includes work-based learning.

Foundational skills of TVET students are weak

Source: Building Better Formal TVET Systems report based on data from PISA 2003-2018

However, success in TVET relies on foundational learning, which many young people lack. Foundational learning is a building block for all other learning, including for technical or occupational purposes. ‘Skills beget skills’ is a key message of a report on reforms for better formal TVET systems. The report reveals that TVET students in low- and middle-income countries often lack foundational learning and score lower in its assessment compared to their peers in general education. For instance, in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mauritius, and Senegal, less than 10 percent of students in secondary vocational or prevocational programs meet the minimum proficiency in reading on PISA. Secondary TVET graduates in Ghana score significantly lower in literacy compared to their general education counterparts.

Despite the gap in foundational learning, education policymakers often prefer TVET over projects aimed at increasing foundational literacy. A survey that included different hypothetical investment choices was administered to over 900 policymakers from 35 low- and middle-income countries, finding that TVET ranked highest for receiving additional project finance in a hypothetical scenario. This preference for TVET may stem from policymaker’s assumptions that TVET is an immediate solution to youth unemployment while not fully appreciating the role of foundational learning in improving youth employment.

A preference for investing in TVET over foundational learning may also stem from policymaker’s overly optimistic perception of young people’s mastery of foundational learning.  In fact, the survey showed that policymakers underestimate their country’s learning poverty, defined as being unable to read and understand simple text by age 10, by 22 percentage points.  A recent follow-up study found that policymakers in the populous East Asia & Pacific region underestimate learning poverty by 31 percentage points. This highlights a profound disconnect between policymakers’ perception and reality, which could critically hinder effective reforms. A new regional education report offers policy options to address the foundational learning gap.

Better integration of foundational learning and TVET

Foundational learning must be front and center for investments in people, including in TVET. It should be set as a target outcome for education and skills development rather than a mere nominal reference in qualifications or curricula. To improve foundational learning in TVET, it is important to assess students’ needs early through dedicated tests when they enter the programs and offer foundational learning courses with targeted help for those with the greatest need.

Countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, and Latvia provide programs to develop foundational skills and help TVET graduates access other education tracks. Bangladesh’s Education Sector Plan reorients objectives and content in basic general education to develop students’ foundational learning. It also prioritizes reforms to increase the number of qualified TVET teachers. India’s National Education Policy aims to ensure foundational learning for all children by grade 3 and integrate vocational education into secondary schools. It develops a system of continuous assessment to track, individualize and ensure each student's learning. TVET providers in China integrate both foundational learning and technical and vocational education at the secondary and tertiary levels.

While strengthening the foundational learning of TVET students is important, significant challenges remain. Current TVET systems struggle to systematically teach these skills due to issues like rigid curricula, inadequate teaching practices, and poor institutional management. The transferable character of foundational learning also reduces incentives for firms to invest in them. This underscores a focus on acquiring these skills in formal TVET and the need for reforms to overhaul these systems, as argued in last year’s blog on the Youth Skills Day.