EASING THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK
By María del Carmen Feijoó, IIEP-Buenos Aires
IIEP-Buenos Aires takes on the challenge of paving a new road towards education and access to decent work.
The way in which boys and girls transition into the world of work is key to their future development as it has a lasting impact on their public and private lives. At an individual level, a young person may have made a life-changing decision under constraints. If it results in leaving school or becoming an early grade repeater or a young mother, the chances of accessing a decent job decrease vis-a-vis those who complete basic education.
On the other hand, different factors can shape a young person’s future, such as the structure of labour markets, coming from a low-income household, living in a rural area or being part of a historically discriminated against group.
In recent decades, the difficulties surrounding the youth transition to work has mainly been addressed via policies aimed at increasing educational levels under the rationale of the human capital paradigm. In Latin America, there is a wide consensus that young people need to accomplish at least 12 years of school - namely to complete the upper secondary level - to have access to a decent job. However, even though more young people are consistently reaching higher educational levels, the challenge of accessing labour markets has not been solved.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) states that there are simply not enough decent jobs. Strategies focused on promoting access to decent jobs have to go beyond educational efforts and include policies that promote new skills. Increasing the number of young people in the labour market is not only a human right; it can increase levels of social inclusion and cohesion and improve living conditions.
"IT IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES WITH AN OPEN MIND. THIS IS WHY IIEP-BUENOS AIRES WORKS WITH AN INCLUSIVE FRAMEWORK WHERE THE FORMAL AND INFORMAL, RURAL AND URBAN, BOYS AND GIRLS ARE ALL EQUALLY CONSIDERED."
From the viewpoint of school systems, the curricula must be updated to reflect the real world. Access to education has to be granted as a human right and a public good. Diversity and everyday issues have to be addressed, including sexual and reproductive rights for boys and girls, linkages with new technologies and knowledge about job conditions and workers’ rights. Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has to be included to strengthen capacities for jobs. Cash transfer programs for teenagers may be an incentive to continue their education. Additionally, teachers and schools have to respond to their students' interests and concerns, and make schooling an activity worth experiencing.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) create a promising context to advance towards the fulfilment of these rights. All 17 SDGs are interconnected and need to be addressed in an integrated way. It is not only about SDG 4, which focuses on quality of education but SDG 5, which focuses on women rights, as well as SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, among others. All of these goals are moving in the same direction and may produce synergies to overcome some of the aforementioned challenges.
Meanwhile, researchers and policy-makers can change the way societies address this issue and the people most affected. The dissemination of the NEET word (a young person who is no longer in the education system and who is not working or being trained for work) has to be abandoned. In Latin America, it is another way of stigmatizing young people in poverty. Most of them, especially women, are far from doing nothing as they are the daily support of their families, providing unpaid care for older persons and children; while many boys informally enter the labour market to support the household.
It is of utmost importance to address these issues with an open mind. This is why IIEP-Buenos Aires works with an inclusive framework where the formal and informal, rural and urban, boys and girls are all equally considered. In this context, the RedEtis portal gathers and disseminates the latest trends, discussions and events around this topic, while producing new and relevant knowledge.
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