It is widely accepted that schools and other settings catering to youth can play an essential role in offering education in life skills and character. However, there exists a broad array of potential targets for such programs, suggesting the need for guidance on which targets are most likely to result in demonstrable and valuable results. This report attempts to integrate a broad literature addressing the universe of targets for skills development programs for youth. After identifying a set of 30 candidate skills to investigate further, research literature was reviewed to evaluate each skill on three dimensions. Measurability had to do with the extent to which adequate measurement tools were available for evaluating skill level, with emphasis on those tools specifically used for younger populations and available in multiple languages, particularly in Spanish. Malleability had to do with the extent to which there is evidence that interventions have the potential to modify skill level, with emphasis on those that have been extensively evaluated through randomized controlled trials. Finally, meaningfulness had to do with the extent to which evidence exists demonstrating that the higher levels of skill can result in consequential outcomes. Based on these criteria, 10 skills were selected for further review as having the most compelling evidence to date that they are life skills that matter: Mindfulness, Empathy and compassion, Self-efficacy/ Self-determination, Problem solving, Critical thinking, Goal orientation and goal completion, Resilience/Stress resistance, Self-awareness, Purposefulness, and Self-regulation/Self-control/Emotion regulation. The evidence for each is summarized. We finish with a review of key issues to consider in the design, implementation, and evaluation of life skills that matter.

This S4YE Discussion Note explores three critical and growing sub-sectors within the health workforce that could offer opportunities to increase youth employment: (i) new non-clinical support roles (ii) digital health jobs and (iii) jobs in the care economy. Overall, gaps in the health workforce supply chain must be addressed through investment in education, TVET infrastructure and resources to align workforce demand and supply for emerging healthcare jobs and the migratory health labor force.

This report presents the results of the UNESCO-UNEVOC trends mapping study on progress and challenges in TVET teacher and trainer digital skills development before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study’s findings – in terms of data, policy trends and identification of good practice examples – offer guidance to governments and TVET institutions that wish to improve teachers’/trainers’ acquisition of digital skills, as well as their capacities and propensities to apply digital tools, services and technologies to deliver quality, learner-centred education and training.

As Europe goes through its green and digital transformations, high-quality vocational education and training (VET) is key to ensuring people have the right skills for the jobs of today and tomorrow. The Council Recommendation on VET for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience, adopted in November 2020, sets out the EU’s comprehensive vision and strategic objectives for the future of VET. This brochure outlines this vision and the importance of VET reforms at national level, including key principles and actions to support these reforms.

This World Bank report incorporates youth aspirations and employment module of High-Frequency Phone Surveys (HFPS) into multi-topic household surveys to present the differences in education and career aspirations across Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Malawi. The data collected is nationally representative, and age distribution is similar across countries. Understanding the aspirations and goals of the youth is expected to lead to the development of effective employment policies.

This Knowledge Brief highlights examples of music enterprises in Africa and the types of opportunities they offer for youth in the broad music ecosystem.  The Brief also suggests some strategies for translating music into economic and social benefits: 1) Access to finance to support music enterprises, 2) Targeted music-friendly policies, 3) Support for networks and enabling infrastructure, 4) Enhanced participation of women and artists from marginalized communities, and 5) Human capital development through skills, training, and innovation.

These guidelines provide information, guidance and tips on organizing and managing virtual internships. They focus on those aspects of an internship that are particularly important for internships conducted entirely virtually, and these where all activities and interactions are performed remotely.

This strategic brief shows aquatic food systems have the potential to provide livelihood opportunities for youth but challenges remain for them to join the sector. Multisector initiatives to improve access to training and finance as well as promote digital innovation can improve the participation of youth in fisheries, aquaculture and associated value chains. 

This study explores how the centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs) implement their autonomous role in public-private partnerships (PPPs), and the specific features and benefits of CoVEs’ collaborations in PPPs for vocational education and skills development. Drawing on selected case studies in six ETF partner countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey) and two EU Member States (Finland and the Netherlands), the study provides insights into CoVE developmental processes and practices in PPPs and shows emerging trends that can inform vocational education policy development more widely.

Building on the success of the Resilience Academy and Open Cities programs, the objective of this pilot study is to explore the feasibility of establishing a Digital Works for Urban Resilience Program, targeting local populations who have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

In partnership with IBM, the OECD recently conducted a social media poll, asking young people how well prepared they feel about joining the world of work, how confident they are about their future paths, and what concerns them about education and jobs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, the OECD and IBM discuss insights from the poll and why career guidance and real-world work experiences are more important for young people than ever.

This note illustrates how AI can support post-secondary learning across the entire tertiary and vocational education sector in emerging markets.

EY Ripples and JA Worldwide teams surveyed nearly 6,000 Gen Z youth and found they are ready to reframe how business and education operate. This report presents the survey results, which yielded an understanding of a generation that is largely optimistic about 2030 and is ready to get started with gaining work experience so that they can tackle global challenges.

This research considers how various countries around the world are meeting the challenge of ensuring decent work for interns, and what more needs to be done to realize that objective, including the possible development of a new international labor standard on this issue.

This publication explores and examines the timely and accurate identification of NQCs, their integration into appealing and flexible curricula, and their effective implementation through new teaching and learning methods as well as relevant teacher and trainer training.

This report highlights the importance of emotional resilience to cope with the rapidly changing nature of work. The report highlights six strategies to cultivate emotional resilience among youth: (i) using a hybrid approach to enhance both coping and thriving abilities in schools; (ii) restoring refugees’ self-agency & ‘making meaning’ mindset; (iii) incorporating resilience-building strategies in traditional interventions that support entrepreneurs; (iv) adopting low cost, self-directed, digital interventions to support youth at scale in difficult times; (v) adopting mindfulness to release stress and increase self-awareness when engaged in fast learning and high-pressure environments; and (vi) designing work readiness training journeys that integrate both technical and socio-emotional skills.

This report presents the findings from the second phase of the Research for Results (R4R) program. The R4R’s primary objective is to generate quantitative evidence on student and teacher performance, school environment and management, and qualitative evidence related to vulnerable youth at risk of dropping out. This evidence-based analysis is supported by policy recommendations and featured in the new government's five-year general education strategy (2021-2025).

This Cedefop CrowdLearn study undertakes a comparative analysis of skill development and workplace learning practices among two major types of online platform work: online freelancing and microwork. It combines information on microworkers drawn from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform with the original CrowdLearn sample of online freelancers surveyed from three major online labour platforms (Fiverr, Upwork, PeoplePerHour). 

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously disrupted the skilling, upskilling and reskilling of employees, apprentices and interns in all types of enterprises and organisations around the world. To assess the impact of the pandemic, 10 development partners together undertook a global online survey of enterprises from 27 April to 5 June 2020. This report presents the findings from a global survey of enterprises.

This white paper sets out reforms to further education, recognising that the UK economy is changing rapidly. The pandemic, Brexit, climate change, the expected growth of jobs requiring STEM education or training had collectively snowballed into a skills shortage in recent years – young people did not have the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed in the current and future economy.