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Contents: The conceptual framework -- Educational outcomes and their impact on labor market outcomes -- Employment outcomes and links to the broader economic context -- Conclusion : how education can improve labor market outcomes.

Background The integration of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into formal school curricula may be a key tool for the revitalisation of biocultural diversity, and has the potential to improve the delivery of educational objectives. This paper explores perceptions of the value of TEK to formal education curricula on Malekula Island, Vanuatu. We conducted 49 interviews with key stakeholders (local TEK experts, educators, and officials) regarding the use of the formal school system to transmit, maintain, and revitalise TEK. Interviews also gathered information on the areas where TEK might add value to school curricula and on the perceived barriers to maintaining and revitalising TEK via formal education programs. Results Participants reported that TEK had eroded on Malekula, and identified the formal school system as a principal driver. Most interviewees believed that if an appropriate format could be developed, TEK could be included in the formal education system. Such an approach has potential to maintain customary knowledge and practice in the focus communities. Participants identified several specific domains of TEK for inclusion in school curricula, including ethnomedical knowledge, agricultural knowledge and practice, and the reinforcement of respect for traditional authority and values. However, interviewees also noted a number of practical and epistemological barriers to teaching TEK in school. These included the cultural diversity of Malekula, tensions between public and private forms of knowledge, and multiple values of TEK within the community. Conclusions TEK has potential to add value to formal education systems in Vanuatu by contextualising the content and process of curricular delivery, and by facilitating character development and self-awareness in students. These benefits are congruent with UNESCO-mandated goals for curricular reform and provide a strong argument for the inclusion of TEK in formal school systems. Such approaches may also assist in the maintenance and revitalisation of at-risk systems of ethnobiological knowledge. However, we urge further research attention to the significant epistemological challenges inherent in including TEK in formal school, particularly as participants noted the potential for such approaches to have negative consequences.

This book analyzes skills demand and supply in Sri Lanka and scrutinizes how skills are formed, the factors shaping skills demand, and the responsiveness of the system. Sri Lanka has made strong progress in economic growth and poverty reduction. Economic growth and structural changes in the economy, however, make skills development imperative as Sri Lanka implements its the Mahinda Chintana plan to become a regional hub in strategic economic areas. Yet, skills shortages and mismatches are widespread, and firms with undereducated employees and a shortage of skilled labor are less productive. This book proposes an effective skills development system to help diversify the country's economy, improve its labor productivity and competitiveness, offer the country the flexibility to compete effectively in the global economy, and further reduce poverty in the country. After the book's introduction to the Mahinda Chintana plan, chapter two describes the general education and training system in Sri Lanka, especially the TVET sector. Chapter three examines the main drivers of skills demand and skills mismatches and gaps in Sri Lanka. Chapter four studies the relationship between education, training, and labor market outcomes, including skills already available in the workforce. Chapters five and six analyze factors affecting the skills supply system, such as cost, financing, and governance and also private sector provision. Chapter seven briefly reviews firm-based training in Sri Lanka based on evidence from the employer survey. Chapter eight assesses workforce development policies in Sri Lanka based on the World Bank's Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) framework. Finally, chapter nine provides the summary of main findings and outlines possibilities for the way forward in skills development in Sri Lanka. Please note that Figure 5.2 in the book is incorrect, and should be replaced by the corresponding figure in volume 2 of this report.

Sub-Saharan African countries are increasingly recognizing the contribution of post basic education to economic growth and social development. However, policy makers in many poor countries struggle to balance expansion and upgrading of post-basic education reform against competing development priorities. They must consider how and sometimes whether, to fund post-basic education in the face of demographic growth, limited public resources, and political and social imperatives. In its new poverty reduction and growth strategy, the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), the Government of Madagascar made the transformation of its education system one of the key pillars of its development agenda. An important decision was the reform of basic education, covering primary and junior secondary education, including extension of the basic education cycle to 10 years. The Government's new Education for All (EFA) plan provides the policy framework and operational strategies for basic education, covering changes to curricula and learning materials, teaching methods and student assessment. The EFA plan was endorsed by donors and the reform of basic education launched in 2008.The main purpose of this report is to provide analytical inputs for the development of post-basic education reforms. Specifically, the report identifies and prioritizes: (i) the need for change in the structure, content and delivery of Madagascar's post-basic education and training system, and (ii) the key reforms in financing, governance and sub-sector management required to support changes to the structure, content and delivery of the post-basic system.

The economic and social prospects are daunting for the 89 million out-of-school youth who comprise nearly half of all youth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within the next decade, when this cohort becomes the core of the labor market, an estimated 40 million more youth will drop out, and will face an uncertain future with limited work and life skills. Furthermore, out-of-school youth often are policy orphans, positioned between sectors with little data, low implementation capacity, lack of interest in long-term sustainability of programs, insufficient funds, and little coordination across the different government agencies. This report provides a diagnostic analysis of the state of out-of-school youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the 12- to 24-year-old cohort. This report also examines the decision path youth take as they progress through the education system and the factors that explain youth's school and work choices. It finds that individual and household characteristics, social norms, and characteristics of the school system all matter in understanding why youth drop out and remain out of school. In particular, six key factors characterize out-of-school youth: (i) most out-of-school youth drop out before secondary school; (ii) early marriage for female youth and (iii) rural residence increase the likelihood of being out of school; (iv) parental education level and (v) the number of working adults are important household factors; and (vi) lack of school access and low educational quality are binding supply-side constraints. Policy discussions on out-of-school youth are framed by these six key factors along with three entry points for intervention: retention, remediation, and integration. This report also reviews policies and programs in place for out-of-school youth across the continent. Ultimately, this report aims to inform public discussion, policy formulation, and development practitioners' actions working with youth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Creating jobs and increasing productivity are key concerns for policy makers across the globe. For East Asian countries seeking to reduce poverty, expanding employment and productivity is at the top of the agenda. This book is a comprehensive look at the demand and supply of skills in Indonesia how skills have changed, how they will continue to evolve, and how the education and training sectors can be improved to be more responsive and relevant to the needs of the labor market and the economy as a whole. Using an innovative firm survey, the authors shed light on the functional skills that workers must possess to be employable and to support firms' competitiveness and productivity. They also assess the role of the education and training systems in providing those skills. Although this book focuses specifically on Indonesia, its methodologies, messages, and analysis will be instructive for researchers and policy makers who shape the delivery of education and training in other middle-income countries around the world.

All countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face the prospect of a substantial increase in the number of primary school completers in the coming years. Although initial conditions vary widely from country to country, this increase will inevitably intensify pressure on the education system, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. African countries may thus find it timely to align their education policies and strategies to the emerging challenges. A key goal is to ensure that the education system continues to develop in an efficient, equitable, and fiscally sustainable manner even as it expands to accommodate the rising numbers seeking a place in secondary and tertiary education. The rest of this report is organized as follows. Chapter two elaborates the policy context for education development in SSA. Chapter three explains the methodology and data sources. Chapter four examines the challenges and constraints posed by the sheer volume of increases in enrollments in post-primary education with which most education systems in SSA must grapple in the coming years. Taking these constraints into account, the report evaluates the scope for policy development from three perspectives in the subsequent chapters: the coverage of education systems (chapter five), the quality and cost of service delivery (chapter six), and the division of financing by public and private sources (chapter seven). The fiscal implications of plausible policy packages that SSA countries might consider are assessed in chapter eight. Chapter nine seems up the general conclusions of the report.

This book reviews current education and skills training options in the Eastern Caribbean and asks whether the prevailing education policies adequately prepare youth for the global economy. It provides in-depth analysis and relevant international cutting-edge practices to guide policymakers, educators and private sector leaders in fostering a creative, productive and well-paid workforce. Specifically, it makes the case for why the OECS education and training systems need to be more responsive to changing labor market demands in the region, and discusses how this could be achieved, taking into consideration the latest education and training policies.

It starts with a demand-side analysis in chapter two, examining historical trends in demand for skills, revealing the types of skills in demand, and projecting future demand for skills driven by economic growth and policy development. Chapter two also highlights the emerging skills shortages and mismatches in Yunnan. The rest of the report focuses on the access, quality, and relevance of Yunnan's education and training system and how effective it is in supplying the skills in demand. An overview of Yunnan's formal and non-formal education and training system is presented in chapter three. Chapter four focuses on the formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system, examining its governance, industry participation, curriculum reforms, quality assurance, and finances. Analysis of the formal education and training system focuses mainly on secondary and tertiary TVET. Chapters five and six address two major training programs outside the formal education system: non-formal training for rural workers and work-based training for urban workers, both of strategic importance. Finally, chapter seven draws on lessons from the Shanghai Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA to demonstrate the role of schools in developing the cognitive skills of 15-year-olds. The report concludes with a summary of findings and a set of policy recommendations for meeting the skills challenges and improving the education and training system.

Qualitative research examines local, contextualized settings in order to understand lager, macro social phenomenon (e.g., Neuman, 2006). No doubt critical educational studies, by employing qualitative, including ethnographic, methods and methodologies, have strived for gaining such understandings of micro-macro linkages and offered strong empirical and theoretical insights into social and cultural dynamics operating in and through everyday practices (e.g., Willis, 1981;Weis, 1990, 2004: McNeil, 1988, 2000; Pedroni, 2007). The tradition of critical educational studies, however, has seldom examined natural science knowledge, or views on such knowledge, taught and circulated in schools and communities.