| OIT/Cinterfor

In this document, an attempt is being made at a first approach to these questions; gathered together are the experiences of vocational training agencies, accumulated over these many years, as well as the contributions of Ministries of Labour in the definition of public policies and strategies with respect to training; an attempt has also been made to incorporate the developments in the field of education and labour which the Ministries of Education and the agencies responsible for scientific and technological research in countries in the region have implemented.

Vocational training and labour relations

This publication has been prepared with the precise objective of supporting trade union training activities directed both to negotiate and participate in the management of vocational training strategies, in particular within the working places.

A training policy model for enhancing employability and gender equity: The Formujer Programme

The purpose of the FORMUJER Programme (Programme to Strengthen Technical and Vocational Training of Low Income Women in Latin America) is to promote and strengthen the capacities of the institutions of the region to design and implement policies intended to improve the quality, relevance and equity of training for work and increase the employability of women and men, paying special attention to the training and labour insertion needs of low income women.

Gender and competency-based training: Conceptual contributions, tools and applications

Vocational and technical training policies can contribute substantively to the process of expanding opportunities and of overcoming the various manifestations of inequity, poverty and social exclusion, for which purpose the simultaneous challenge of strengthening employability of individuals, improving gender equity and increasing productivity and competitiveness of enterprises must be faced.

Quality management in vocational training. The use of standards and their different applications

Quality is not a new issue in vocational training, but the use of international standards within institutions in order to create new institutional cultures is. In the framework of the implementation of total quality management strategies, more and more Latin American and Caribbean vocational training institutions are using international standards, quite successfully, to certify the quality of their training processes.

40 Questions on Labour Competency

Five years have gone by after the first electronic publishing of this document.

During that time, there has been an incredible progress both in terms of
conceptual formulations and the application of labour competency. This is
why this publication has been made, now printed as well, revising and updating much of the content of the first document. The aim is then to facilitate consultation and provide aid in the first steps of those who, at training institutions or through human resources management, attempt to apply the logic of competencies to work.

Quality models in vocational training and education. Analysis and complementary aspects

Vocational Training Institutions (VTIs) and many educational institutions are making good progress in developing quality management systems. These are basically framed in practices derived from three internationally-recognized models. These are the ISO Standards model (especially those of the ISO 9000 family), the programmes and institutions accreditation systems that have been developed mainly in the sphere of higher education, and the national and international quality awards, which in some cases include excellence awards for school management.

Quality, relevance and equity. An integrated approach to vocational training

Amongst the different forms of education and learning, vocational training is the one wich is most closely linked to the world of work and production. This has led to increasingly consider vocational training and human resources development as a strategic component of both economic policies -as a result of its impact on labour productivity and the competitiveness of firms - and social policies, due to its key role in the measures taken to attain the objectives of Decent Work, increased employability and struggle against exclusion from the labour markets.

Learning and teaching in the Internet age. Distance learning and new technologies for vocational training

The book has been structured in the following way:

The first part begins by placing the objective of this work in the intersection between vocational training, distance learning and “new technologies” (in which the distance is not such and the newest technologies are combined with old ones).