ILO/Cinterfor

Knowledge management in vocational training

This study was commissioned as part of a World Bank program of research and policy analysis on vocational and technical education and training in developing countries. Launched in 1988, the study was supported by the World Bank, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (Germany), the International Development Research Centre (Canada), the Inter-American Development Bank, and the ILO. An Advisory Group consisting of John Middleton (World Bank), Ewald Gold (GTZ), Daniel Morales-Gomez (IDRC), Nassim Mehedff (IDB), and Claudio de Moura Castro (ILO) helped develop the design of the study.

The present report is the result of the regional study on vocational training institutions and systems in Latin American countries. The purpose of the study was to undertake a global, in-depth review of the performance of VTIs in the countries of Latin America, with a view to providing elements for undertaking or reinforcing the changes required in their organisation, structure, operation and fields of action, so as to respond as closely as possible to the current and future needs of economic and social development of the countries.

Under this scope, the research was oriented to identifying the distinctive characteristics of the organisational, financing, planning, management and operational models implemented by VTIs in Latin America, and to examining  their margin of agility, flexibility and adaptability to cope with changing situations and demands.

The result of this effort seeks to foster an exchange of ideas and a network for thinking and discussion on priority VT subjects, in the light of the lessons taught by experience, and to strengthen cooperation links on this subject at regional and international levels.

The approach adopted was of a comparative study at Latin American level. In the treatment of each of the subjects chosen, the most relevant experiences in the largest number of countries and institutions comprised in the research were considered. In order to deepen and enrich the analysis and understanding of the phenomena detected, special importance was given to the connections among the different subjects and their location in the general context of VT.