Certification of skills for migrants - an international perspective

1. Certification of skills for migrants - an international perspective Stefano MERANTE TVET and Skills Development Programme Officer, ITCILO 26 June 2019

4. Skills Recognition • The term Skills Recognition is used to describe a variety of processes that recognise the knowledge, skills and competences that a person has acquired through formal, non-formal or informal training, work or life experience. • Skills Recognition therefore places an emphasis on assessment / validation rather than teaching. • Skills Recognition makes knowledge, skills and competences visible for purposes of certification, career progression and professional standing.

6. Skills Recognition for migrants is Skills Portability Transferability of skills + credible information on skills = Portabilityof skills Source: ILO Rec 195 on HRD Development, 2004 ILO GB Paper on Portability of Skills, 2007

7. Who has an interest in skills recognition for migrant workers? • Individuals: If skills are recognized, they can access further training and compete for jobs and wages that are commensurate with their skills fairer chances • Employers: If skills are recognized, it is easier to find qualified staff and address skills gaps • Economy: If skills are recognized, skills are formally included in the market, guarantee quality, and broaden the choice of employers better productivity and higher quality products or services

8. Needsassessment for skills recognition Source: Branka, 2016

10. Social dialogue for Skills recognition Source: Branka, 2016

12. Types of skills recognition systems Credential evaluation (international) Analysis and written appraisal by a competent body of an individual’s foreign qualifications (SAQA 2010) First instrument for international skills recognition Two functions are needed: • Evaluating the content (= National Information Centres) • Recognizing the credential/qualification (= Competent Recognition Authority) e.g. Lisbon Recognition Convention for Higher Education in Europe (1997) or Arusha Convention for Africa (1981), now Addis Convention (2014), also for Higher Education Credential evaluation is easier for (higher) education than for TVET, given that knowledge is easier to compare than competence

13. Types of skills recognition systems Credit Transfer and Exemption (national) Process that allows to obtain credit for successfully completing a unit of competency/module in one qualification or course transferred to or accepted by another training program. International qualifications Provided for specific sets of skills considered “universal” by international private companies such as Microsoft, SAP, Intel, or international education providers such as City and Guilds, Pearson etc. Recognition of Prior Learning Process of identifying, documenting, assessing and certifying formal, informal and non-formal learning outcomes against standards used in formal education and training.

14. Types of skills recognition systems Professional standards Professional bodies and public authorities use professional standards and related criteria to award professional designations to individuals that meet the requirements Occupational licensing Process of compulsory registration of certain categories of workers for them to access and practice their occupations (or certain tasks), based on a required level of competencies (Richmond 2015) May be issued by public authorities, or professional bodies or unions authorized to do so, to allow an activity that would otherwise be forbidden. Hence a license is the strictest way to regulate access to the labour market.

15. Types of skills recognition systems Recognition agreements (stand-alone or part of trade agreements) Contain the principles and norms concerning the recognition of qualifications at regional and interregional levels Mutual recognition agreements Examples: ASEAN mutual recognition agreements (Engineering, Nursing, Architecture, Surveying, Medical, Dental, Accountancy, Tourism). For tourism, 32 job titles are included aiming for equivalence of tourism qualifications Unilateral recognition agreements Receiving country decides which skills are needed in the national labour market and hence recognizes these

17. Recognition agreements in ASEAN • Mutual recognition arrangements in highly skilled professions: Engineering, Nursing, Architecture, Surveying, Medical, Dental, Accountancy • Mutual recognition of skills: In tourism, • 32 job titles are included aiming for • equivalence of tourism qualifications • Harmonization of education and • occupational standards: Regionalmodel • competencystandards

18. Employment of licensed nurses (Active Philippine Nursing License, minimum two years of experience) from the Philippines to Germany Agreement between the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) GIZ supports the Philippine partner POEA in recruitment and pre-departure process (German language skills, immigration process) Employerspay services per recruitedemployee, but nurses don’t have to pay service feesexcept the local POEA processsingfees Qualification recognition usually happens during the first year of services, supported by employers Triple Win - Germany

19. RPL for labour market integration in countries of destination and upon return • Jordan – Formalizing access to the labour market • Refugees and jobseekers participate in short-term trainings plus RPL system, supported by the ILO, in the construction, confectionary and garment sectors that leads to a work permit for the local labour market • The training is provided by a local training institution and covers trade-specific content, occupational safety and health and basic labour rights • After passing a final examination on the job, the beneficiary is entitled to a Formal Skills Certificate recognizing their prior and updated learning • Sri Lanka • The Bureau of Foreign Employment provides services to returning migrants and their family members, including recognition of skills, to ease the return and reintegration • ILO pilot (2016) to test an RPL mechanism in eight districts among returnee construction workers • Setting up of “RPL Coordinating committees for Migrant Workers” at local level and linking them with Vocational Training Authorities in order to facilitate RPL processes of returnees

21. Global Compact for Migration, Article 18 calls for investments in skillsdevelopmentand recognition of skills, qualifications and competences, includingthroughglobal skills partnerships Global skills partnerships alsorespond to SDGs No. 4, 8 and 10 Global Skills Partnerships Dec 2018: ILO, IOM, UNESCO, IOE and ITUC forged a Global Skills Partnership to support countries and institutions in the planning and implementation of skills partnerships

22. Global Commission on the Future of Work report calls for: Lifelonglearningentitlement Support to transitions Can Skills recognition be consideredas a human entitlement? Skills recognition as an entitlement?