ILO - Recommendation concerning Vocational Guidance and Vocational Training in the Development of Human Resources R150 (Orientamento professionale e formazione), 23 giugno 1975

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R150 Recommendation concerning Vocational Guidance and Vocational Training in the Development of Human Resources

Geneva, 23 giugno 1975

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Sixtieth Session on 4 June 1975, and
Considering the importance of vocational guidance and vocational training in the implementation of employment policies and programmes, and
Noting the terms of existing international labour Conventions and Recommendations of direct relevance to employment policy and, in particular, of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention and Recommendation, 1958, and of the Employment Policy Convention and Recommendation, 1964, and
Noting that the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation at its Eighteenth Session in 1974 adopted a Recommendation on Technical and Vocational Education, and
Noting that the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation have collaborated closely with a view to ensuring that the instruments of the two Organisations pursue harmonised objectives and avoid duplication and conflict, and that they will continue to collaborate closely with a view to the effective implementation of these instruments, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to human resources development: vocational guidance and vocational training, which is the sixth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Recommendation,
adopts this twenty-third day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five, the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the Human Resources Development Recommendation, 1975:

I. General Provisions

1. This Recommendation applies to the vocational guidance and vocational training of young persons and adults for all areas of economic, social and cultural life and at all levels of occupational skill and responsibility.
2.
(1) For the purpose of this Recommendation, the qualification of the terms guidance and training by the term vocational means that guidance and training are directed to identifying and developing human capabilities for a productive and satisfying working life and, in conjunction with the different forms of education, to improve the ability of the individual to understand and, individually or collectively, to influence working conditions and the social environment.
(2) The definition contained in subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph applies to guidance, to initial and further training, and to retraining, whatever the way in which they are provided and whatever the level of skill and responsibility.
3. In giving effect to this Recommendation, member States should take account of guidelines supplementing its provisions which may be formulated by regional conferences, industrial committees and meetings of experts or consultants convened by the International Labour Organisation and other competent bodies.

II. Policies and Programmes

4.
(1) Members should adopt and develop comprehensive and co-ordinated policies and programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training, closely linked with employment, in particular through public employment services.
(2) These policies and programmes should take due account of:
(a) employment needs, opportunities and problems, both regional and national;
(b) the stage and level of economic, social and cultural development; and
(c) the mutual relationships between human resources development and other economic, social and cultural objectives.
(3) The policies and programmes should be pursued by methods that are appropriate to national conditions.
(4) The policies and programmes should encourage and enable all persons, on an equal basis and without any discrimination whatsoever, to develop and use their capabilities for work in their own best interests and in accordance with their own aspirations, account being taken of the needs of society.
(5) Such policies and programmes should also encourage undertakings to accept responsibility for training workers in their employment. Undertakings should co-operate with the representatives of their workers when planning their training programmes and should ensure, as far as possible, that these programmes are in line with those of the public training system.
(6) Such policies and programmes should have as objectives:
(a) to ensure entry into productive employment, including self-employment, which corresponds to personal aptitudes and aspirations, and to facilitate occupational mobility;
(b) to promote and develop creativity, dynamism and initiative with a view to maintaining or increasing work effectiveness;
(c) to protect persons against unemployment or other loss of income or earning capacity deriving from lack of demand for their skills as well as against underemployment;
(d) to protect persons against excessive physical or mental strain in employment;
(e) to protect persons against occupational hazards by making high standards of teaching occupational safety and health an integral part of training for each trade or occupation;
(f) to assist persons in their quest for satisfaction at work, for individual achievement and self-expression, and for the betterment of their lot in life through their own efforts to improve the quality or modify the nature of their contribution to the economy;
(g) to achieve social, cultural and economic advancement and continuing adjustment to change, with the participation of all concerned in reshaping the work requirements;
(h) to achieve the full participation of all groups in society in the process of development and in sharing the benefits deriving from it.
5.
(1) With the above ends in view, Members should establish and develop open, flexible and complementary systems of general, technical and vocational education, educational and vocational guidance and vocational training, whether these activities take place within the system of formal education or outside it.
(2) Members should aim in particular at:
(a) ensuring that all have equal access to vocational guidance and vocational training;
(b) providing, on a continuing basis, broadly conceived and realistic vocational guidance for the various groups of the population in all branches of economic activity;
(c) developing comprehensive systems of vocational training covering all aspects of productive work in all branches of economic activity;
(d) facilitating mobility between different lines of training, within and between the various occupations and sectors of economic activity and between different levels of responsibility;
(e) co-ordinating vocational training for one sector of the economy or branch of economic activity with vocational training for other sectors or branches;
(f) establishing patterns of systematic vocational training in all branches of economic activity and for all types of work and levels of skill and responsibility;
(g) providing all workers with real possibilities for re-entering the educational system, at a level which takes account of their work experience;
(h) establishing close co-operation and co-ordination between vocational guidance and vocational training provided outside the school system, on the one hand, and educational guidance and the school system, on the other;
(i) establishing conditions permitting workers to supplement their vocational training by trade union education given by their representative organisations;
(j) undertaking research and adapting administrative arrangements and methods as required for implementing the programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training.
6. The policies and programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training should:
(a) be co-ordinated with policies and major programmes of social and economic development such as employment promotion, social integration, rural development, development of crafts and industry, adaptation of methods and organisation of work to human requirements and improvement of working conditions;
(b) take account of international economic and technological interaction and co-operation;
(c) be reviewed periodically in relation to current and planned social and economic development;
(d) promote activities which will stimulate workers to contribute to improved international relations;
(e) contribute to fuller understanding of technical, scientific, economic, social and cultural matters;
(f) create and develop an appropriate infrastructure for providing adequate training respecting the essential standards of occupational health and safety.

III. Vocational Guidance

7.
(1) Members should gradually extend their systems of vocational guidance, including continuing employment information, with a view to ensuring that comprehensive information and the broadest possible guidance are available to all children, young persons and adults, including appropriate programmes for all handicapped and disabled persons.
(2) Such information and guidance should cover the choice of an occupation, vocational training and related educational opportunities, the employment situation and employment prospects, promotion prospects, conditions of work, safety and hygiene at work, and other aspects of working life in the various sectors of economic, social and cultural activity and at all levels of responsibility.
(3) The information and guidance should be supplemented by information on general aspects of collective agreements and of the rights and obligations of all concerned under labour law; this information should be provided in accordance with national law and practice, taking into account the respective functions and tasks of the workers' and employers' organisations concerned.
8.
(1) The main objectives of vocational guidance programmes should be to:
(a) provide children and young persons not yet in the labour force with the basis for choosing a line of education or vocational training in the light of their aptitudes, abilities and interests and of employment opportunities;
(b) assist persons in programmes of education and vocational training to derive the maximum benefit from them and to prepare themselves either for supplementary education or vocational training or for entry into an occupation and for continuing education and training as and when required during their working lives;
(c) assist persons who are entering the labour force, who seek to change their work activities, or who are unemployed, to choose an occupation and to plan related education and vocational training;
(d) inform employed persons of opportunities for improving their occupational development potential, their level of performance, their earnings and their position, of the educational and vocational training requirements and of the facilities available for this purpose;
(e) promote general awareness of the contributions which are and can be made by the various sectors of the economy and branches of economic activity, including those which have traditionally enjoyed little prestige, to general development and to expanding employment;
(f) assist co-operating institutions to provide information and feedback on the effectiveness of particular training programmes as an integral part of vocational guidance.
(2) Members should ensure that such programmes are compatible with the right to freedom of choice in selecting an occupation and to fair promotion opportunities as well as the right to education.
9. In extending the scope of their systems of vocational guidance, Members should pay special attention to:
(a) helping children and young persons at school to gain an appreciation of the value and importance of work and an understanding of the world of work as well as to familiarise themselves with the conditions of work in as broad a range of occupations as possible:taking account of the employment and career opportunities that may be open to them:and with requirements for taking advantage of these opportunities;
(b) giving children and young persons who have never been to school, or who left school early, information on as broad a range of occupations as possible and on employment opportunities in these occupations, as well as guidance on how they may gain access to them;
(c) giving adults in employment, including self-employment, information on trends and objectives in development which concern them and in particular on the implications of social, technical and economic change for their field of work;
(d) giving unemployed and underemployed persons all the necessary information and guidance on possibilities of finding employment or improving their employment situation and on means available for achieving this purpose;
(e) giving persons who meet special problems in relation to education, vocational training or employment, assistance in overcoming them within over-all measures aiming at social progress.
10.
(1) Both group vocational guidance programmes:namely the dissemination of factual material and counselling for groups of persons who have similar vocational needs:and individual counselling should be made available.
(2) Individual counselling should be available, in particular, to young persons and adults requiring specialised assistance in identifying their occupational aptitudes, abilities and interests, in assessing the educational, vocational training and employment opportunities which are likely to be available to them, and in choosing a line of education, vocational training or employment.
(3) Individual counselling:and, as appropriate, group vocational guidance activities:should take into account the individual's specific need of information and support, with particular attention to the physically and mentally handicapped and disabled as well as to socially and educationally disadvantaged persons. They may include exercises in seeking and evaluating information and in decision making, as well as exposure to expanded career choices and goals, in order to develop the capacity to make an informed choice. They should always take into account the individual's right to make his own choice on the basis of comprehensive relevant information.
(4) Individual counselling should, whenever required, be supplemented by advice for remedial action and such other help as may be useful for the purposes of vocational adjustment.
11. Members whose vocational guidance programmes are in the early stages of development should, in the first instance, aim at:
(a) drawing the attention of young persons to the importance of choosing general and vocational education taking full account of existing employment prospects and of trends in economic and social development, as well as of their personal aptitudes and interests;
(b) assisting those groups of the population which require help in overcoming traditional restrictions on their free choice of education, vocational training or occupation;
(c) meeting the needs of those with special potential in fields of work which are of major importance.
12. Members should make full use, in their vocational guidance programmes, of all available facilities and media through which the various groups of the population concerned can be reached most effectively.
13.
(1) Wherever practicable, appropriate tests of capacity and aptitude :including both physiological and psychological characteristics:and other methods of examination should be made available for use in vocational guidance as appropriate to the needs of individual cases.
(2) Such tests and other methods of examination should be used only in agreement with the person seeking guidance and in conjunction with other methods of exploring personal characteristics; they should be carried out only by specialists.
(3) The results obtained in the application of such tests and other methods of examination should not be communicated to a third person without the express agreement of the person examined.
14.
(1) Where tests and other methods of examination are employed in vocational guidance, they should be standardised for the age groups, populations and cultures concerned and should be validated for the particular purposes for which they are intended.
(2) There should be a continuing programme for the development and restandardisation, at regular intervals, of such tests and other methods of examination in order to take account of changing conditions and life styles.

IV. Vocational Training

A. General Provisions

15.
(1) Members should gradually extend, adapt and harmonise the vocational training systems of their respective countries to meet the needs for vocational training throughout life of both young persons and adults in all sectors of the economy and branches of economic activity and at all levels of skill and responsibility.
(2) In doing so they should pay special attention to:
(a) providing opportunities for promotion which should be open, wherever possible, to persons with the desire and ability to reach higher levels of skill and responsibility;
(b) improving vocational training in sectors of the economy and branches of economic activity in which vocational training is largely unsystematic and in which obsolescent technologies and methods of work prevail;
(c) providing vocational training for members of the population who had not received adequate attention in the past, in particular for groups which are economically or socially disadvantaged;
(d) effectively co-ordinating general education and vocational training, theoretical practical instruction and initial and further training.
(3) Vocational training programmes should be so conceived as to promote full employment and the development of the capabilities of each person.
16. Vocational training programmes for individual occupations and branches of economic activity should, as appropriate, be arranged in progressive stages which together provide adequate opportunities for:
(a) initial training for young persons and adults with little or no previous work experience;
(b) further training which should enable persons engaged in an occupation:
(i) to improve their performance or broaden the range of activities which they can undertake, to proceed to higher-level work or to gain promotion;
(ii) to update their knowledge and skills in the light of developments in the occupation concerned;
(c) retraining to enable adults to acquire new qualifications for a different occupational field;
(d) such further education as is necessary to complement the training;
(e) training in safety and health at the place of work, especially for young persons and adults withlittle previous work experience;
(f) acquiring information on rights and obligations in employment, including social security schemes.
17.
(1) Every effort should be made to develop and utilise to the full, if necessary with public financing, existing and potential vocational training capacity, including the resources available in undertakings, in order to provide programmes of continuing vocational training.
(2) In the provision of training, advantage should be taken, as appropriate, of mass media, mobile units, and correspondence courses and other self-instruction programmes.
18. Programmes of initial training for young persons with little or no work experience should include in particular:
(a) general education which is co-ordinated with practical training and related theoretical instruction;
(b) basic training in knowledge and skills common to several related occupations which could be given by an educational or vocational training institution or in an undertaking either on or off the job;
(c) specialisation in directly usable knowledge and skills for employment opportunities which already exist or are to be created;
(d) supervised initiation into a real work situation.
19.
(1) Full-time courses of initial training should, wherever possible, provide for adequate synchronisation between theoretical tuition in training institutions and training given on the job in undertakings in order to ensure that the former is related to the real work situation; similarly, practical training off the job should, as far as possible, be related to real work situations.
(2) Training on the job arranged as an integral part of courses given by training institutions should be planned jointly by the undertakings, institutions and workers' representatives concerned with a view to:
(a) enabling the trainees to apply in actual working conditions what they have learned off the job;
(b) providing training in aspects of the occupation which cannot be covered outside undertakings;
(c) familiarising young persons with little or no work experience with the requirements and conditions they are likely to encounter at work and with their responsibilities within a working group.
20. Persons entering employement after completing the full-time courses mentioned in Paragraph 19 above should receive:
(a) induction to familiarise them with the nature and objectives of the undertaking and the conditions in which work is performed there;
(b) systematic complementary training on the job, together with the necessary theoretical courses;
(c) as far as possible, planned experience in a series of activities and functions of training value, including adjustment to the workplace.
21. The competent authorities should, in line with national planning and national laws and regulations and after consultation of employers' and workers' organisations, establish national or regional further-training plans related to employment.
22.
(1) Undertakings should, in consultation with workers' representatives, with the persons concerned and with those in charge of their work, establish and review at regular intervals further-training plans for persons in their employment at all levels of skill and responsibility; a joint committee may be established for the purpose.
(2) These plans should:
(a) provide opportunities to qualify for advancement to higher levels of skill and responsibility;
(b) cover technical and other training and work experience for the persons concerned;
(c) take account of the abilities and interests of the persons concerned as well as of work requirements.
(3) Persons in charge of the work of others should have an obligation to make an effective contribution to the success of further-training plans.
(4) Organisational responsibility for the establishment, implementation and review of further-training plans should be clearly defined and should be assigned, as far as possible, to a special unit or to one or more persons operating at a level commensurate with such responsibility.
23.
(1) Workers being trained within an undertaking should:
(a) receive adequate allowances or remuneration;
(b) be covered by the social security measures applicable to the regular workforce of the undertaking concerned.
(2) Workers receiving training off the job should be granted educational leave in accordance with the terms of the Paid Educational Leave Convention and Recommendation, 1974.

B. Vocational Training Standards and Guidelines

24.
(1) Initial and further training leading to recognised occupational qualifications should be covered as far as possible by general standards set or approved by the competent body, after consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned.
(2) These standards should indicate:
(a) the level of skills and knowledge required of candidates for the various vocational training courses;
(b) the level of performance to be attained in each major activity or function of the occupation concerned during each phase of training and, as far as possible, the content and duration of training and the facilities and equipment needed to ensure that the level of performance indicated may be attained;
(c) the part of the vocational training to be provided by the system of formal education, by vocational training institutions, by undertakings through trainning on the job, or by other means;
(d) the character and duration of any work experience that may be required in vocational training programmes;
(e) the training content, on the basis of the principles of multi-purpose training and occupational mobility;
(f) the methodology to be applied, taking into account the objectives of the training and the characteristics of the trainees;
(g) any examinations to be taken or other means of assessing achievement;
(h) the certificates to be issued on successful completion of vocational training.
25.
(1) The same occupation may be covered by more than one vocational training standard when, and for as long as, the conditions in which the work is carried out and the activities it involves vary widely between different sectors of the economy, branches of economic activity or undertakings of different sizes. (2) Standards covering the same occupations should be co-ordinated in order to facilitate job mobility, with full recognition of the qualifications already held and of work experience in the occupation.
26.
(1) Guidelines indicating the desirable organisation and content of vocational training should be established for occupations, levels of skill and knowledge and levels of responsibility for which the standards provided for in Paragraph 24 of this Recommendation are shown not to be appropriate.
(2) Such guidelines may be necessary in particular to cover:
(a) training for future supervisors, specialists and managers and for persons already employed in these capacities;
(b) training for training officers and for managers, supervisors and instructors of vocational training;
(c) vocational training for branches of economic activity in which there are large numbers of self-employed persons or of small undertakings;
(d) the improvement of vocational training for branches of economic activity in which there has been little or no provision for the necessary systematic vocational training, and for undertakings using obsolescent technologies and methods of work.
(3) Such guidelines may also be appropriate for the first training in employment of persons who have just completed full-time courses of initial training in educational and vocational training institutions.
27. Vocational training standards and guidelines should be evaluated and reviewed periodically, with the participation of employers' and workers' organisations, and adjusted to changing requirements, the periodicity of review being determined by the rate of change in the occupation concerned.
28.
(1) Members should gradually establish standards and guidelines or, as the case may be, extend their applicability until all major occupations and all levels of skill and responsibility are covered.
(2) Priority should be given to vocational training for occupations and levels of skill and responsibility of key importance for social and economic advancement.

V. Training for Managers and Self-Employed Persons

29.
(1) Training for management and supervisory functions should be provided for persons in charge of the work of others, for professional and specialist personnel participating in management and for persons being prepared to assume management and supervisory functions.
(2) The competent authorities should, in line with national planning and national laws and regulations and after consultation of employers' and workers' organisations, establish plans for training for management and supervisory functions and for self-employed persons.
30.
(1) The content of programmes of training for management and supervisory functions should take account of the level of the current and prospective responsibilities of the trainees.
(2) The programmes should be designed in particular to:
(a) develop an adequate knowledge and understanding of the economic and social aspects of decision making;
(b) foster attitudes and abilities for leading and motivating other persons, while respecting human dignity, and for developing sound industrial relations; (c) develop initiative and a positive attitude towards change and a capacity to appreciate the effect of change on other people;
(d) develop the capacity of assuming new responsibilities on the job;
(e) develop awareness of the importance of education, vocational guidance and vocational training for the personnel of the undertaking;
(f) develop awareness of the conditions of workers in their occupational life, concern for their welfare and knowledge of labour law and of social security schemes;
(g) develop understanding of the value of efforts towards self-improvement;
(h) provide the basis for further training in accordance with changing requirements.
31.
(1) Vocational training programmes for self-employment should take account of the social situation of the worker and:
(a) include, in addition to training specific to the technical field concerned, training in the basic principles and practices of business management and of training other persons;
(b) develop awareness of the need to take initiatives and assess and accept risks.
(2) Such programmes should provide regular opportunities for updating training and be reinforced by a continuing flow of information on new developments in the technical field concerned, as well as on sources of finance and, if necessary, on the most efficient marketing methods.

VI. Programmes for Particular Areas or Branches of Economic Activity

32.
(1) Appropriate programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training should be established for particular areas or branches of economic activity in which comprehensive improvement action or major structural change is required. (2) Such programmes should form part of national vocational guidance and vocational training programmes as a whole and be co-ordinated with other action to develop the area or branch of economic activity concerned.
33. Among the areas or branches of economic activity for which such programmes may be required, particular attention might be given to rural areas, to branches of economic activity using obsolescent technologies and methods of work, to industries and undertakings in decline or converting their activities, and to planned or newly established industries.

A. Rural Areas

34.
(1) Programmes for rural areas should aim at achieving full equality of opportunity of the rural and urban populations as regards vocational guidance and vocational training.
(2) They should be conceived within the framework of national development policies, taking account among other things of patterns and trends in migration between rural and urban areas.
35.
(1) Programmes for rural areas should make adequate provision for the special vocational guidance and vocational training needs of:
(a) agricultural workers, including plantation workers, small owner-occupiers, tenant farmers and sharecroppers and other persons engaged in agriculture and related activities, particularly in relation to agrarian reform and other major changes in supply, production and distribution systems in the areas concerned;
(b) persons engaged in non-agricultural occupations, with special emphasis on education, communications, transport and other services and craft occupations.
(2) Such programmes should take account of differences in needs according to the type of rural activity involved, its degree of mechanisation, specialisation and modernisation and the scale on which it is conducted.
(3) Programmes for rural areas should include training in organising co-operatives and in managing undertakings.
36.
(1) Countries in which facilities and programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training for rural areas are as yet little developed should concentrate initially on:
(a) providing information for young persons and adults in rural areas on the objectives of and action proposed for making improvements or major structural changes in the area and on the implications of such action for their work and lives;
(b) providing systematic education and vocational training, full time or part time as appropriate, for young persons in employment to complement informal learning on the job;
(c) providing short programmes of upgrading training or of retraining for adults through existing vocational training, or extension of other advisory services;
(d) developing social and economic leadership in rural areas and encouraging participation by broader groups of the population in development action;
(e) encouraging a desire for self-improvement.
(2) Such countries should keep their priorities for rural areas under review so as to work progressively towards:
(a) developing comprehensive vocational information and guidance services for the rural population as a whole;
(b) introducing or generalising systematic initial training for young persons;
(c) introducing comprehensive programmes of further training on a continuing or recurrent basis to meet the needs of adults.
37. Countries which, for financial reasons or lack of trained personnel, are not in a position to provide adequate services for the rural population as a whole, might consider:
(a) concentrating action temporarily on limited geographical areas where important lessons may be learnt for subsequent action in other areas;
(b) giving preference to landless labourers and other economically weak groups in rural areas, which are in greatest need of economic and social justice.

B. Branches of Economic Activity Using Obsolescent Technologies and Methods of Work

38.
(1) Programmes for branches of economic activity and occupations in which the use of obsolescent technologies and methods of work is widespread should be developed as appropriate along similar lines to those for rural areas.
(2) The aim should be to provide vocational guidance and vocational training for persons employed in or entering these branches of economic activity or occupations which will enable them to participate in or contribute to the modernisation of methods and products and to benefit from changes introduced.
39. Extension and other advisory services for self-employed persons and small entrepreneurs in these branches of economic activity and occupations should provide them with information on possibilities of innovation in their work, and on related vocational training and other services.
40. In planning vocational training for such branches of economic activity and occupations particular consideration should be given to:
(a) needs and opportunities for extending the scope of or for specialising the activities of undertakings, and the vocational training implications of such extension or specialisation;
(b) possibilities of improving vocational training practices and, in particular, of providing opportunities for continuing training;
(c) possibilities of combining training services to managers of undertakings with other action for raising the level of performance;
(d) the creation of new opportunities for gainful employment.
41. Vocational training for such branches of economic activity and occupations:
(a) may be conceived initially as a complement to the learning systems by which work knowledge and skills are traditionally acquired;
(b) should take account of the needs both of young persons receiving initial training and of persons already working in these branches of economic activity and occupations, including the small entrepreneurs and other persons who give initial training to young persons.

C. Industries and Undertakings in Decline or Converting Their Activities

42. When industries or undertakings begin to decline, workers affected should in good time receive vocational guidance and vocational training to facilitate a change in skills and provide the opportunity of finding new employment.
43. When industries or undertakings change their products and methods of production or the services they provide, workers affected should in good time receive training, organised in co-operation with the industries or undertakings concerned, to enable them to adapt themselves to their new tasks.

D. New Industries

44. In planning vocational guidance and vocational training in connection with the establishment of new industries, account should be taken of:
(a) needs for workers, specialists, managers and administrators during the construction phase and after the new plants have been commissioned, and of any need for retraining persons employed during the construction phase with a view to placing them in other jobs after commissioning;
(b) needs for independent workers and entrepreneurs to undertake subcontracting for the new industries;
(c) the need to provide information relating to and vocational training for new activities rendered possible or necessary by the change in the economic conditions in the region;
(d) the need to provide vocational guidance and vocational retraining for persons whose knowledge and skills are rendered obsolete by changes in the structure of demand for labour within the region;
(e) the need to provide new opportunities for independent workers and entrepreneurs whose business may suffer from the competition created by the new industries.

VII. Particular Groups of the Population

45.
(1) Measures should be taken to provide effective and adequate vocational guidance and vocational training for particular groups of the population so that they will enjoy equality in employment and improved integration into society and the economy.
(2) Particular attention should be paid to such groups as:
(a) persons who have never been to school or who left school early;
(b) older workers;
(c) members of linguistic and other minority groups;
(d) handicapped and disabled persons.

A. Persons Who Have Never Been to School or Who Left School Early

46. Measures should be taken to provide all persons who have never been to school or who left school before acquiring a general education adequate for integration into a modernising society and economy with vocational guidance, general education and training in basic skills, due account being taken of opportunities on the employment market.
47. Vocational guidance for persons who have never been to school or who left school before acquiring adequate literacy and numeracy should be as broadly conceived as possible, while taking account of special educational and vocational training facilities, and other opportunities for education, training and employment that may be expected to be available to them.
48.
(1) Arrangements for providing such persons with basic skills and general education might include:
(a) part-time instruction in knowledge and skills relevant to their work, and general education linked with that instruction, for children employed in the family farm or business or in other areas of the economy;
(b) courses in relevant basic skills and related general education for young persons and, if appropriate, adults, to facilitate their entry into systematic vocational training or to broaden their opportunities for employment and promotion;
(c) arrangements for special vocational training combined with productive work for young unemployed persons, supplemented as necessary by courses of general education, with a view to giving them such education, skills and work habits as are necessary for useful and remunerative economic activity;
(d) instruction in literacy and numeracy, particularly for adults which is linked with vocational training in the knowledge and skills required in a particular occupation or type of work and for active participation in development action; such instruction should be co-ordinated with general measures for the eradication of illiteracy;
(e) special educational and technical upgrading courses for young persons and adults in employment to raise the level of their performance or improve their opportunities for advancement;
(f) special courses in skills urgently required in employment for persons with little or no formal education.
(2) Special vocational training methodologies should be developed and applied for the arrangements provided for in this Paragraph.
49. The certificates obtainable through such arrangements should be co-ordinated with those obtainable in the system of formal education and by persons trained by other means.

B. Older Workers

50.
(1) Measures to meet difficulties faced by older workers in employment might include as appropriate:
(a) identifying and changing as far as possible working conditions which are likely to accelerate the physical and mental processes of ageing;
(b) providing older workers with the vocational guidance and vocational training which they require, with special reference to any need for:
(i) updating their knowledge and skills by providing them with relevant information at the appropriate time;
(ii) upgrading the level of their general education and occupational qualifications by the use of specialists in adult vocational training, so that it may match that of better educated and trained young persons entering or already in the same occupation;
(iii) informing them at the appropriate time about facilities available for further training and carrying out such training at the appropriate moment, namely before the introduction of new working techniques and working methods;
(iv) making available to them, as appropriate, other positions in their own or in another occupation in which they can make use of their talents and experience, as far as possible without loss of earnings;
(v) ensuring that they are not debarred from vocational training by unrealistic age limits for admission;
(vi) developing a vocational training methodology adapted to the needs of older workers;
(vii) taking all necessary measures for the provision of technically and pedagogically competent instructors, well prepared to carry out further training adapted to the special requirements of older workers;
(c) encouraging older workers to take advantage of the vocational guidance and vocational training facilities or opportunities for transfer which will help them to overcome their problems;
(d) educating the general public, and particularly vocational guidance and vocational training staff, the staff of employment and other relevant social services, employers and workers, on the adjustments in employment which older workers may need to make and on the desirability of supporting them in such adjustments.
(2) Measures should also as far as possible be taken to develop work methods, tools and equipment adapted to the special requirements of older workers and to provide training in their use.

C. Linguistic and Other Minority Groups

51. Members of linguistic and other minority groups should be provided with vocational guidance which would inform them in their own language or in a language with which they are familiar, or if necessary through interpreters, of prevailing conditions and requirements in employment, of the rights and obligations of all concerned and of assistance available for solving their particular problems.
52. Special vocational training programmes should be provided as necessary for linguistic and other minorities. In the case of linguistic minorities such training should, if possible, be given in the vernacular and should, as appropriate, include language training.

D. Handicapped and Disabled Persons

53.
(1) Whenever they can benefit by it, persons who are handicapped or disabled should have access to vocational guidance and vocational training programmes provided for the general population.
(2) Where this is not desirable owing to the severity or the nature of the handicap or disablement or the needs of specific groups of handicapped or disabled persons, specially adjusted programmes should be provided.
(3) Every effort should be made to educate the general public, employers and workers, as well as medical and paramedical personnel and social workers, on the need for giving persons who are handicapped or disabled vocational guidance and vocational training which would enable them to find employment suitable to their needs, on the adjustments in employment which some of them may require and on the desirability of special support for them in their employment.
(4) Measures should be taken to ensure, as far as possible, the integration or reintegration of the handicapped and the disabled into productive life in a normal working environment.
(5) Account should be taken of the Vocational Rehabilitation (Disabled) Recommendation, 1955.

VIII. Promotion of Equality of Opportunity of Women and Men in Training and Employment

54.
(1) Measures should be taken to promote equality of opportunity of women and men in employment and in society as a whole.
(2) These measures should form an integral part of all economic, social and cultural measures taken by governments for improving the employment situation of women and should include, as far as possible:
(a) educating the general public and in particular parents, teachers, vocational guidance and vocational training staff, the staff of employment and other social services, employers and workers, on the need for encouraging women and men to play an equal part in society and in the economy and for changing traditional attitudes regarding the work of women and men in the home and in working life;
(b) providing girls and women with vocational guidance on the same broad range of educational, vocational training and employment opportunities as boys and men, encouraging them to take full advantage of such opportunities and creating the conditions required for them to do so;
(c) promoting equality of access for girls and women to all streams of education and to vocational training for all types of occupations, including those which have been traditionally accessible only to boys and men, subject to the provisions of international labour Conventions and Recommendations;
(d) promoting further training for girls and women to ensure their personal development and advancement to skilled employment and posts of responsibility, and urging employers to provide them with the same opportunities of extending their work experience as offered to male workers with the same education and qualifications;
(e) providing day-care facilities and other services for children of different ages, in so far as possible, so that girls and women with family responsibilities have access to normal vocational training, as well as making special arrangements, for instance in the form of part-time or correspondence courses, vocational training programmes following a recurrent pattern or programmes using mass media;
(f) providing vocational training programmes for women above the normal age of entry into employment who wish to take up work for the first time or re-enter it after a period of absence.
55. Special vocational training arrangements and programmes, similar to those envisaged in clauses (e) and (f) of subparagraph (2) of Paragraph 54 of this Recommendation, should be available to men having analogous problems.
56. Account should be taken of the Employment Policy Convention and Recommendation, 1964, in the implementation of measures for the promotion of equality of opportunity of women and men in training and employment.

IX. Migrant Workers

57. Effective vocational guidance and vocational training should be provided for migrant workers, so that they will enjoy equality of opportunity in employment.
58. Vocational guidance and vocational training for migrant workers should take into account that they may have a limited knowledge of the language of the country of employment. Paragraphs 51 and 52 of this Recommendation should be applied to them.
59. Vocational guidance and vocational training of migrant workers should take account of:
(a) the needs of the country of employment;
(b) the possible reintegration of migrant workers into the economy of their country of origin.
60. Account should be taken, as regards vocational guidance and vocational training for migrant workers, of the relevant provisions of international labour Conventions and Recommendations concerned with such workers. These questions should also be the subject of agreements between countries of origin and countries of employment.

X. Training of Staff for Vocational Guidance and Vocational Training Activities

61. Provision for the training of staff should cover all persons responsible either full time or part time for planning, organising, administering, developing, supervising or giving vocational guidance or vocational training.
62.
(1) In addition to receiving training in vocational guidance, including individual counselling, persons giving vocational guidance should be familiarised with the world of work generally and with the conditions of work and functions of persons engaged in a broad range of occupations at all levels of skill and responsibility as well as with the employment and career opportunities in these occupations and with the training courses and training facilities available for them; they should also be acquainted with general aspects of collective agreements and of rights and obligations under labour law.
(2) The training of persons giving vocational guidance should as appropriate include study of the physiological, psychological and sociological characteristics of different groups and of specialised guidance methods.
63.
(1) Persons engaged in giving vocational training should have comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge as well as substantial work experience in the technical field or functions concerned, together with technical and pedagogical training acquired in educational and training institutions.
(2) The training of such persons should, as appropriate, include study of the various characteristics and attitudes of different groups of trainees and of specialised training methods.
64.
(1) Persons engaged in vocational training for particular branches of economic activity should be familiarised with the social, economic and technical aspects and conditions of the particular branch of economic activity concerned.
(2) For instance, in addition to technical and vocational education and vocational training in their speciality, persons engaged in rural development activities should receive training in such fields as:
(a) the economics of agriculture, forestry and other rural activities;
(b) methods and techniques of farm and forest management;
(c) rural sociology and institutions;
(d) mass communication and extension training techniques;
(e) the activities of co-operatives where such exist.
65. Persons engaged in vocational guidance and vocational training activities for particular groups of the population should be familiarised with the special social and economic problems of these groups.
66.
(1) Persons responsible for planning, organising, administering or supervising vocational guidance or vocational training programmes, including directors and managers of vocational guidance or vocational training institutions or services, training directors and officers of undertakings, and vocational guidance and vocational training consultants, should have had experience of giving vocational guidance or vocational training respectively.
(2) Wherever possible, persons with such responsibilities in regard to vocational training programmes should have had experience of work in undertakings on other than vocational training duties.
67. All persons engaged in vocational guidance and vocational training activities should be given frequent opportunities of refreshing and updating their knowledge of social, economic, technical and psychological elements relevant to their line of work and of learning about new methods and techniques applicable to their work.

XI. Research

68. Members should make provision for research and experimental programmes designed with a view to:
(a) determining criteria for setting priorities and establishing strategies for the development of vocational guidance and vocational training for particular branches of economic activity and groups of the population;
(b) determining and forecasting employment opportunities in the various branches of economic activity and occupations;
(c) increasing knowledge of the psychological, sociological and pedagogical aspects of vocational guidance and vocational training;
(d) evaluating the internal efficiency and external effectiveness of individual components of the systems of vocational guidance and vocational training;
(e) determining the direct and indirect costs and benefits of alternative patterns and methods of providing vocational guidance and vocational training; (f) improving, for the population concerned, the psychological tests and other methods used for the identification of talent, the appraisal of aptitudes and interests, and the assessment of levels of knowledge and skill attained through vocational training;
(g) increasing available information on occupations and their requirements.

XII. Administrative Aspects and Representative Bodies

69.
(1) Public authorities and bodies concerned with general education and with vocational guidance, technical and vocational education, vocational training, training of staff for human resources development and management training, public authorities and bodies concerned with planning and implementation of employment and other social and economic development policies, and bodies representative of the various branches of economic activity and occupations, and of the various groups of the population concerned, should collaborate in establishing policies, and in planning and implementing programmes for vocational guidance and vocational training.
(2) Representatives of employers' and workers' organisations should be included in the bodies responsible for governing publicly operated training institutions and for supervising their operation; where such bodies do not exist, representatives of employers' and workers' organisations should in other ways participate in the setting-up, management and supervision of such institutions.
70. In addition to participating in the establishment of policy and the planning and implementation of programmes, representative bodies should, subject to national laws and regulations and within the framework of national planning:
(a) encourage and assist their members to:
(i) provide opportunities and facilities for vocational guidance and vocational training;
(ii) support the provision of such opportunities and facilities;
(iii) make full use of them;
(b) provide vocational guidance and vocational training as necessary to complement the action of other bodies, services or persons and provide information which will facilitate such action;
(c) participate in research.
71. The respective roles and responsibilities of all those concerned with the development of human resources should be clearly defined.
72. In administering programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training provision should be made for:
(a) advising the bodies, services, institutions and undertakings concerned on the social, technical and methodological aspects involved in the implementation of the programmes;
(b) furnishing supporting services and facilities, such as research, standards and guidelines for the organisation of vocational guidance and vocational training and audio-visual aids and information on appropriate techniques and methods;
(c) organising publicly controlled examinations or applying other means of assessing achievement for occupations covered by vocational training standards;
(d) training of staff;
(e) making available research findings and other experience to persons or bodies responsible for planning and implementing the programmes;
(f) providing adequate financial support for implementing the programmes.

XIII. Periodical Reviews

73. Members should periodically review programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training with a view to:
(a) achieving the best use of staff, facilities and media;
(b) adjusting the organisation, content and methods of vocational guidance and vocational training in the light of changing conditions and requirements in the various branches of economic activity and the needs of particular groups of the population, as well as in the light of advances in relevant knowledge;
(c) determining other action which may be required for the effectiveness of national policies for the furtherance of the goals referred to in Paragraphs 4 to 6 of this Recommendation.

XIV. International Co-operation

74. Members should co-operate with each other to the fullest extent possible, with the participation, as desired, of governmental and non-governmental regional and international organisations, as well as non-governmental national organisations, in planning, elaborating and emplementing programmes of vocational guidance and vocational training.
75. Such co-operation may include:
(a) the provision, on a bilateral or multilateral basis, of assistance to other countries in the planning, elaboration or implementation of such programmes;
(b) the organisation of joint research and experiments with a view to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning and implementation of programmes;
(c) making facilities available or establishing joint facilities to enable persons concerned with vocational guidance and vocational training to acquire knowledge, skill and experience which are not available in their own countries;
(d) the systematic exchange of information on vocational guidance and vocational training, including the results of research and experimental programmes, by means of expert meetings, seminars, study groups or exchange of publications;
(e) the progressive harmonisation of vocational training standards for the same occupation within a group of countries with a view to facilitating occupational mobility and access to training abroad;
(f) the preparation and dissemination of basic vocational guidance and vocational training material and aids, including curricula and job specifications, with a view to their use in a group of countries or a region with similar requirements or working towards the harmonisation of vocational training levels and of vocational guidance practices.
76. Members should consider establishing or contributing to the joint establishment or operation of centres for a region or group of countries to facilitate exchange of experience and promote co-operation in programme development and methodological research.

XV. Effect on Earlier Recommendations

77.
(1) This Recommendation supersedes the Vocational Guidance Recommendation, 1949, the Vocational Training (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1956, and the Vocational Training Recommendation, 1962.
(2) The Vocational Rehabilitation (Disabled) Recommendation, 1955, the Vocational Training (Fishermen) Recommendation, 1966,(FNB)See under: XIV. Particular occupational sectors, (b) Fishermen below.(FNE) the Special Youth Schemes Recommendation, 1970,(FNB)See under: II. Employment, (a) Employment policy above.(FNE) and the Vocational Training (Seafarers) Recommendation, 1970, (FNB)See under: XIV. Particular occupational sectors, (a) Seafarers, Training below.(FNE) remain applicable to the categories of persons covered by their terms.

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ILO - Recommendation concerning Vocational Guidance and Vocational Training in the Development of Human Resources R150 (Orientamento professionale e formazione), 23 giugno 1975