Access to the Albanian VET System: social, individual and school‐based barriers

Abstract

This article analyses the determinants of access to the VET system in Albania and its impact on the inclusion of young people and vulnerable groups. The VET system often attracts students who have completed the compulsory levels of education with weak academic results. Many come from families with a low level of income and a low education level. Skill development can make a positive contribution to social inclusion and is particularly important for Albania at a time of greater unemployment among young people, lack of proper skills and competences of the labour force, demographic changes, and high levels of emigration. Yet, Albania has the lowest enrolment rate in the vocational education and training (VET) system in the Western Balkans and a variety of factors hinders access to VET schools. This article draws on original research based on in‐depth interviews with national and local actors, school managers and parents, focus groups and structured survey questionnaires with teachers and students at three VET providers in Albania. It finds that social, individual and school‐based factors all place barriers for enrolment of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the VET system and that this contributes to the wider landscape of social exclusion in Albania.

From Policy to Practice: Roma Education in Albania and Sweden

“…Thus Roma youth have been able to register on these programmes, even if they had not completed compulsory education. However, lack of basic education became a problem in completing the vocational programmes, and another major problem was that only 30% of vocational students and only 3.5% of short-term vocational course trainees were able to find a job after the programme, according to statistics from 2015 (Xhumari and Dibra 2016).…”