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 and 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 with little 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 employment after completing the full-time courses mentioned in Paragraph 19 above should receive -

(a) introduction 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 training 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 multipurpose 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;