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Perhaps no other challenge preoccupies governments and citizens in the Mediterranean region than the mass unemployment of young people, many of who have invested in higher education in the hope that ability and effort lead to fulfilling lives. Transitions to independent adulthood are, however, frustratingly long drawn-out, and often jeopardised by labour markets that are neither youth-friendly nor meritocratic. While such challenges require structural responses at the macro-economic level, career education and guidance have an important role to play in addressing both the public and private good, and in furthering the social justice agenda. This volume provides a review of career education and guidance in Southern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa Region, presenting a multi-faceted portrayal of the situation in each country as well as overviews of cross-cutting themes that are especially relevant to context, such as women's career development in the Arab states, job placement support for refugees, and the impact of faith on livelihood planning.

Abstract from publisher's website.

The chapters are as follows: Introduction: Anchoring career guidance in the Mediterranean?: in search of southern perspectives / Ronald G. Sultana (pages 3-15); Part one, 'Context', contains the following chapters: Contexts matter: factors influencing career guidance in the Mediterranean countries / Ronald G. Sultana (pages 19-53); Debunking myths surrounding women's careers in the Arab Region: a critical reflexive approach / Fida Afiouni and Charlotte Karam (pages 55-70); Career guidance: perspectives from Islam and from Muslim cultures / Aboubakr Abdeen Badawi (pages 71-85); Syrian refugees in Jordan: providing career guidance services and enhancing access to employment / Maha Kattaa (pages 87-104); Part two, 'The Maghreb', contains: Educational and career guidance in Morocco: vision, plans and projects / Aziza Chbani and Amina Jaouane (pages 107-122); Education and career guidance in Algeria: recurrent dysfunctions / Rosa Mahdjoub and Mohamed Miliani (pages 123-137); Careers information and guidance in Tunisia: institutional and societal challenges / Ammar Mejri and John McCarthy (pages 139-150); Career guidance in Libya: small steps forward, still a long way to go / Ali Elhawat (pages 151-157); Youth education and guidance for employment in Libya: an evolving scenario (pages 159-170).

Part three, 'The Mashrek', contains the following chapters: Career guidance in Egypt: partnership in international cooperation for national development / Shahinaz Khalil (pages 173-186); Exploration process and future plans of Arabs and Jewish Israeli young adults: implications for career interventions / Rachel Gali Cinamon (pages 187-202); Career education and guidance under occupation in Palestine: factors affecting young people's aspirations / Mazen Hashweh (pages 203-224); Career development services in Jordan: international consultants review past efforts and future prospects / Michel Turcotte, Celine Renald and Lynne Bezanson (pages 225-237); Career services in Syrian higher education: policy articulations / Batoul Diab and Neruda Barakat (pages 239-254); The Lebanese education system: heavy on career orientation, light on career guidance / Barend Vlaardingerbroek, Anies Al-Hroub and Cyrine Saab (pages 255-265); Career counselling services in Turkey: building on the past and constructing the future / Binnur Yesilyaprak (pages 267-282); The Saudi experiment with career guidance: borrowing policy and managing the clash of context and theory / Tristram Hooley (pages 283-300); Part four, 'South Europe', contains: Career counselling and guidance in Greece: past, present and future / Michael Kassotakis (pages 303-322); Guidance and counselling in Cyprus: multiple roles, challenges and achievements / Antonis Antoniou (pages 323-335); Career education and guidance in Malta: development and outlook / Manwel Debono (pages 337-350); Career guidance in multicultural contexts: an Italian case study / Roberta Piazza, Paola Magnano and Andrea Zammitti (pages 351-370); Young adults of Maghrebi descent in France: guidance and the challenges to educational and labour market integration / Valerie Cohen-Scali, Alma Hafsi and Patrick Werquin (pages 371-388); Guidance in Catalan secondary education: main features and challenges in a Spanish region / Marius Martinez-Munoz and Carme Martinez-Roca (pages 389-400); Career education and guidance services in Portugal: deeds and needs / Maria Do Ceu Taveira (pages 401-416); Conclusion: Futures for career education and guidance in the Mediterranean?: implications, challenges, and prospects / Ronald G. Sultana (pages 419-437). Show less

This report assesses a youth-focused skills training programme in rural and semi-rural Morocco. The intervention delivered financial, life and entrepreneurial skills training, aiming to assist young people with the challenges they face during their transition from school to work. Using a randomized controlled trial, the study explores the medium- to long-term impacts on a range of outcomes related to financial inclusion, employability and human capital accumulation.

Youth-focused development organizations throughout [Middle East and North Africa] MENA increasingly concentrate on providing skills development training to promote financial inclusion and the labour market integration of young people. Despite the proliferation of such training, evidence is still scarce on its effectiveness in addressing the wider challenges of economic inclusion among young people in MENA. As the first [randomized controlled trial] RCT in Morocco to examine a skills training programme, this impact evaluation therefore contributes to closing the knowledge gap on what works in youth employment in the region.

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Developments in vocational education and training (VET) intersect with social, economic and labour market policies, impacting young people and adults, as well as the employed and the unemployed. Governments across countries establish dialogue and cooperation with a wide variety of stakeholders to respond to the diverse needs of these groups through formal and non-formal learning. This paper investigates the specific role of civil society organisations in the VET policy cycle and governance ecosystem, drawing on the results of an ETF pilot survey carried out in 2018 in a selected group of countries from the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean - Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.

Whereas the role of the government and social partners, as well as that of the private sector and VET training providers, in such a multilevel governance set-up has been relatively well defined, the nature of CSOs' contribution is less clear-cut. To better understand the added value of the CSOs' role in the multilevel governance of VET, their contribution can be contextualised in the following phases: (a) strategy formulation and policy design; (b) training provision and monitoring; and (c) policy evaluation and review. The EU considers CSOs to include all non-state, not-for-profit structures (non-partisan and non-violent), through which people organise to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or economic. They include membership-based, cause-based and service-oriented CSOs. Among them are community-based organisations, NGOs, faith-based organisations, foundations, research institutions, gender and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) organisations, cooperatives, professional and business associations, and the not-for-profit media. Trade unions and employers' organisations, the so-called social partners, constitute a specific category within civil society. For the sake of this study, social partners are viewed as traditionally playing a role within a structured tripartite policy environment of training and employment, while CSOs (as defined above) rarely do.

The report concludes that CSOs have an acknowledged role to play as non-state actors in terms of VET policy shaping, and are equally making a valuable contribution in terms of implementing of high-quality, innovative and relevant VET training and providing employment services in the region. However, CSOs' role in terms of reviewing training provision and holding the public VET service providers accountable is clearly underdeveloped in the region. The report recommends raising awareness around the demonstrated added value that CSOs already bring to the table and how they could be contributing even more if allowed greater participation in the VET policy environment. It also suggests developing a wider understanding of CSOs' involvement in the VET policy cycle through further research.

Edited excerpt from publication and publisher's website. Show less

This chapter provides a more detailed account of some of the key characteristics that mark the Mediterranean region, which shape and define career education and guidance, its appeal as a policy tool to address, in particular, youth transitions, and the context-sensitive forms it might take in order to serve private and public good. More specifically, such factors as economic inequality, demography, migratory flows, the structure of the labour market, the nature of political regimes, socio-cultural environments, education, and globalisation are examined in detail. In outlining some of the more relevant aspects of context, the chapter pulls together important insights provided by the contributors to this volume, complementing these by drawing on an extensive literature base that provides a wider canvas against which the different chapters can be read. While attention is given to both European and Arab Mediterranean countries, the focus is mainly on the latter, with efforts made to highlight similarities and differences between the two shores when such comparisons serve to generate relevant insights.

Published abstract. Show less

This research was commissioned by UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All (EFA). It focuses on the role of teachers and instructors in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) within the Arab region. It builds on international research and the outcomes of the Third International Congress on TVET organized by UNESCO in Shanghai (China) in May 2012 and the TVET Regional Expert Meeting held in Muscat, Oman (17-19 March 2012) which have drawn attention to the importance of the quality of teaching and training as a necessary condition for TVET achieving its social, economic and educational goals. Hence, teacher and instructor training should help to construct a profession of opportunity for the TVET workforce, equipping teachers, instructors and trainers with what is required in order to make TVET responsive to the economic, social and political needs of the societies it serves.

The research concerns particularly pre-service and in-service training. This synthesis report brings together the findings from 10 national investigations of the character and extent of provision across 10 Arab countries in a comparative manner. The aim is to make it possible to understand where there are similarities and where there are differences in approach and in outcomes. However, this investigation of teacher and instructor training is situated within the larger question of what makes for quality and effectiveness in the TVET workforce. This research therefore aims to place teacher and instructor training within the political and institutional context of each of the 10 countries in order to understand how it combines with other factors (e.g. recruitment, career structure, wages, management, governance) to shape the quality of teaching and training. In addition, the report focuses particularly on change and development for improvement and progress. A general conclusion of this report is that effective teacher and instructor training is only part of an effective TVET system. As this report shows, even where teacher and instructor training has been reformed, this may not bear fruit if teacher recruitment or monitoring of teaching has not been made effective.

The 10 countries are: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The report is based on three main sources of data. The first is a set of 10 background reports, using a common analytical framework, written by national experts selected by UNESCO from the participating countries. The second main source is evidence, expert inputs and feedback gathered during two workshops: the first a kick-start workshop organized in February 2013; the second a validation workshop organized in October 2013. The third source is the available literature on TVET teacher training in the region.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effects of job training programs, as part of the special training contracts (contrats speciaux de formation) prompted by the Moroccan government, on the performances of Moroccan firms. Using firm-level panel data, we highlight that the special training contracts are an efficient measure of public policy. Indeed, job training programs increase the competitiveness and the performances of Moroccan firms. Besides, these effects are even better when the implementation of training by Moroccan firms is part of a real strategy of human resources development. On the contrary, when firms consider the public policy only as a financing opportunity, they are severely sanctioned.

Published abstract. Show less

While recognizing the variety of challenges facing individual countries, the common problem identified across the Arab region is that investments in education and training are not yet resulting in satisfactory levels of productive employment. Young people face uncertainty in moving from education into decent work. Enterprises often have trouble finding enough people with the skills they need to be able to expand their business or adopt new technologies. Also, the opportunities for employment growth due to industrial diversification and trade patterns may be jeopardized because skills development systems are not oriented towards preparing the workforce for the labour market of the future.

This paper is structured in two parts. The first part provides an analytical review of main skills and employability challenges and recent trends which relate to existing conditions prior to the crisis. The second part relates specifically to the impact of the crisis on the issue of skills and employability and it will attempt to identify solutions such as avoiding job losses supporting enterprises and workers in adjustment.

Abstract from publisher's website. Show less

For young people in the southern Mediterranean, labour market entry is long and difficult. Empirical tests carried out in one Moroccan region show that informal employment largely predominates among young people. Even if a qualification does not protect them from unemployment, it is necessary for access to formal jobs. Experience in the labour market helps as well. Two major divisions emerge according to the length of studies and gender. The least educated have few occupational choices; when they have no experience, they are essentially relegated into jobs which are neither paid nor protected by labour legislation. For young women, the first obstacle to be overcome concerns entry into the labour force, which is strongly dependent on their local environment and family context but also their own aspirations. Acknowledging career success as a long-term objective encourages them to participate more frequently in the labour force. Once this is the case, however, they are considerably more vulnerable to unemployment. This study also permits a comparative review of concepts such as unemployment and [not in employment, education or training] NEET.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This paper is devoted to the profession of higher education. It aims to characterize the profession of teaching and objectively draw the portrait of the Moroccan teacher to identify the business improvement routes, so the education system [can respond]. This paper deals with the teaching profession in all cycles of education and training: a detailed analysis of the state of the trade is proposed for primary and secondary education, supplemented by the results of the survey, opinion on these cycles; for higher education and vocational training, a brief description of the state of business is provided in this paper.

Published abstract. Show less

This paper, written in French, is part of an international research project conducted at the UNESCO Institute for Education in partnership with the University of Florence. The paper begins with an outline of the historical background to the development of adult education in Morocco and the general approach to adult education programs. The author then describes the legislative and policy context within which adult education programs operate. Significant trends, problems and issues in adult education are discussed and a number of themes addressed. These include changes in the definition of adult learning, changes in the provision of adult education, increasing attempts to expand and diversify continuing vocational education in response to workplace changes, changes in the roles of private and public sectors in relation to education, and a blurring of the distinction between vocational and general education.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/INT 59.461. Show less