Combating skill shortages

Citation

(1999), "Combating skill shortages", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441iab.018

Combating skill shortages

Keywords Training, Skills shortages, Eastern Europe, Young people

A European Training Foundation report focuses on the factors which hinder effective vocational education and training in Central and Eastern Europe, where serious skill shortages exist. Transnational Analysis of Vocational Education and Training in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe highlights: the lack of money available for training among companies, and especially small and medium-size firms; high unemployment rates among people under 25; and the rise in the number of young people leaving school with no qualifications. The report suggests that these countries need to be made more capable of implementing reform of their vocational training systems.

A second report from the foundation, Integrating Work and Training: A Transnational Study of School Reform, stresses the need for schools in Central and Eastern Europe to concentrate on preparing people for work in the services and high-technology sectors.

The report also urges that the schools should be in closer touch with the needs of business and commerce in their area, and that teachers should have more detailed knowledge of the world of work.

Copies are available from Tristan McDonald, at the European Training Foundation. Tel: +39 11 630 2305; Fax: +39 11 630 2200.