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 coordinated 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.