Human resource training problems from the pandemic

 Human resource training problems from the pandemic

Covid-19 poses many problems for education such as digital skills training, the role of vocational certificates, cooperation between businesses and training institutions or the ability of young workers to find jobs.

At the Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Vocational Education and Skills Development (APAC TVET), Mr. Srinivas Reddy - Head of Skills and Employment Department (International Labor Organization - ILO, Switzerland) Switzerland) said that since the pandemic began, 144 million jobs and 3.5% of annual GDP growth have been lost in just one year, sending the global economy into a recession. seen since 2009. Women, young people and disadvantaged groups such as workers in the informal economy, migrants, refugees and disabled people have been severely affected. . On top of that, low-skilled workers are more affected than high-skilled workers.

The crisis is doubled by the worsening teaching and learning situation. Currently, millions of students around the world are still unable to participate in direct training courses to improve their expertise to adapt to the post-pandemic labor market.

Facing that trend, he and New Zealand's education experts have proposed many practical solutions to solve problems from the pandemic, including: digital transformation; certification of skills from small, flexible courses; skills retraining and lifelong learning environment; improve the job search ability of young human resources.

Experts discuss human resource training solutions after the pandemic at APAC TVET. Photo: APAC TVET

Experts discuss human resource training solutions after the pandemic at APAC TVET. Photo: APAC TVET

Human resource training solution in line with New Zealand's new trend

According to him, digital transformation brings both new opportunities and challenges because it changes both the nature of work and the requirements of skills. Workers need new skills to fit into the digital society. At the same time, businesses also have to deploy infrastructure, equipment and professional training for employees.

In parallel with the digitization process, vocational certificates need to follow the trend of applying a flexible training model and recognizing formal and non-formal learning forms. In which, the biggest challenge is to provide a flexible, affordable, reliable assessment system, including compact courses anywhere, anytime and by various means. Thanks to that, people connect, learn jobs, can apply in the labor market as well as other aspects of life.

It can be seen that short-term certification courses have a lot of potential, but there are still some limitations such as: not yet agreeing on the knowledge base, not following the actual needs, not ensuring the quality, data reliability and security level...

To solve the problem posed by the trend of digitization and vocational certification, education New Zealand has reformed the vocational education and training system since April 2020, including a number of outstanding innovations such as the establishment of Workforce Development Council and 15 Regional Skills Leadership Groups; Centers of Vocational Excellence; unify funding and funding for vocational education; at the same time, simplifying the granting of degrees to learners to unify and manage the quality of the entire vocational training program across the country...

Accordingly, the reforms have contributed to creating a unified, sustainable system for vocational education, and at the same time, supporting learners, employers and the community to access vocational training courses in many ways. variety of certified quality forms conveniently and without interruption. In the long run, this will increase the number of employers willing to facilitate workers' participation in vocational education.

New Zealand has reformed its vocational education and training system since April 2020 to address the problem posed by the trend of vocational certificates. Photo: ENZ

New Zealand has reformed its vocational education and training system since April 2020 to address the problem posed by the trend of vocational certificates. Photo: ENZ

Vocational education reform is also New Zealand's solution in capacity building, re-skilling and building a lifelong learning environment, in the context that more and more employers and employees value continuous learning to constantly improve skills, bridging the gap between skills and jobs.

"The current labor market should have a common standard of lifelong learning: how work-study matches the needs of the new economy; and promote more active participation of small and medium enterprises... New Zealand is one of the pioneer countries in teaching short-term vocational certificates suitable to the needs of many types of businesses, especially small and medium enterprises. The international community can learn a lot from that," said Mr. Srinivas Reddy.