High-level forum on individual

learning accounts

Online Conference

Lifelong Learning Entitlements Borhene Chakroun, UNESCO

Entitlements with a vision: Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 4 : Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Target 4.3. / “Participation”: By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordableand quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

Target 4.4. / “Skills acquisition”: By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adultswho have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs andentrepreneurship

Target 4.5.: / “Equity”: By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal accessto all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons withdisabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.

A humanistic vision for education and learning “based

on human rights and dignity; social justice; inclusion;

protection; cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity; and

shared responsibility and accountability”

Education and Lifelong Learning “a fundamental human

right and a basis for guaranteeing the realization of

other rights” and the sustainable development agenda.

Entitlement: ‘a guarantee of access to benefits based on

established rights or by legislation’

Three levels of obligations : the obligations to respect,

protect and fulfil.

Case studies

Korea: LLL Plan and Voucher systems (pilot)

Singapore: The SkillsFuture Initiative (SFI).all Singaporeans aged 25 and over with an opening credit of 500 Singapore dollars, to be used on work-related training

Malaysia: provide funding mechanisms, engage private funding, make loans available from private financial institutions andconsider tax incentives

Canada (Québec): Lifelong learning plans (LLPs) allow workers to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) to finance full-time training or education for them or their spouse.

Learning Account: Training funded by the CPF must be employment-related.The CPF entitles learners to a training allowance of 500 euros (€800 for the least-qualified people) per year per person

USA: Lifelong Learning and Training Account Act of 2018

Type of learning funded

Stages of lifelong learing entitlement

Conditions for success

1. The allocation of adequate funding

2. . Good-quality and widely available training opportunities must already be established, with sufficient places to meet demand, well-trained staff, and effective monitoring and evaluation systems

3. Legislation will be necessary to provide for an entitlement but will be insufficient on its own to ensure implementation if the other elements are not also in place

4. Information dissemination of the entitlement, and associated guidance and counselling will need to be in place and working well

5. Incentives will be needed to encourage those not naturally inclined to participate in learning to take advantage of the entitlement.

Individual Learning Accounts (ILA) for Lifelong Learning Entitlement

Key features:

• Often put forward along with vouchers as a type of entitlement which stimulates lifelong learning activities of adult workers and encourages savings for education.

• Follows the participants’ choices rather than being supply-led.

• Include a joint financing element that shares training costs between different partners, including the learner

• Do not correspond to an entitlement to “learning”, but merely provide an incentive for individual investment in education.

Training Funds and LLL entitlements

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Northern America

Oceania

Eastern and South-eastern Asia

Northern Africa and Western Asia

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

Frequency

Source: UNESCO Global Review of Training Funds (2020)

12

When setting a vision for Individual Learning Accounts

Are we focusing on specific target group or creating a universal mechanism?

Do we limit financing to occupation-specific learning or include learning for life?

Do we consider a systemic approach (for example including career counselling, etc.) or focus on the learning aspects?

Do we invest/incentivize more on formal learning or any time, any where, any device?

Universal vs targeted

Occupation-specific vs life and work

System vs training All forms of learning vs formal learning

Do we finance fullcost or part?

Full funding vs. partial

Credit: http://www.vet-4-0.eu/vet-4-0-53.html

Recent developments that impacts learning entitlements Micro-credentials to adapt to LLL

Organised by wide range of stakeholders including private

sector, Edtech, etc.;

Individual pathways, supported by Artificial Intelligence;

Digital Learners’ records

Digital credentialing, credentials jungle, new generations of

NQFs, Quality Assurance issues

Privacy and security, the ownership of learners’ records,

inclusivity;

Thankyou!