Investing in skills to overcome the crisis? Low-skilled workers in Italy: European strategies, policies and structural weaknesses

Abstract

A skilled workforce is a prerequisite for productivity and a stepping stone for innovation. This is the reason why education and investment in skills have been made the foundations of Europe 2020, Europe’s strategy to overcome the economic crisis and boost growth. The propensity for developing skills is consistently present in European countries and concerns all educational levels. However, differences between countries are often considerable, in particular with regard to skills and educational attainment. There are countries, such as Italy, which have not been successful thus far at decreasing the number of low-skilled workers. This article aims to describe the situation of low-educated and low-skilled workers in Italy and the impact of the economic crisis on this particularly vulnerable group. The work is based on official data issued by national and international institutions, as well as on results from a narrative analysis of 15 biographical interviews with low-skilled adults in Italy conducted within a Cedefop project. Drawing on both types of sources, the article will offer a perspective on the relationship between structural constraints in regard to access to and participation in lifelong learning in Italy, specifically for low-skilled workers, and individual strategies adopted to cope with these constraints.

Keywords:

• Skills
• low skilled
• lifelong learning
• economic crisis
• biographical interviews

Notes

1. Several studies identify three types of barriers to learning: situational, institutional and dispositional.

Situational barriers are tied to a person’s life situation at a given point in the family life cycle and working life. Institutional or structural barriers include institutional practices and procedures that discourage or prevent participation, such as a lack of provision or opportunity, timing of provision, high fees or entry qualifications, general lack of flexibility. Dispositional barriers refer to personality traits, or personal qualities acquired through early school experiences, concerns about own ability to succeed, belief that one is too old to return to school. (Roosmaa & Saar, 2017, p. 4)

2. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) data on school student performance and PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies).

3. Higher technical education and training (Istruzione e Formazione Tecnica Superiore, IFTS) and higher technical institutions (Istituti Tecnici Superiori, ITS). Both of them are post-secondary technical paths (accessible only with higher secondary education). The first ones are 1-year courses and the second ones are 2-year courses.

4. Participation in training over the four weeks prior to the survey.

5. The term ‘sample’ does not refer, here, to statistical procedures for sampling; it refers, instead, to a number of interviews which were validated according to the project's criteria.

6. In Italy the lower secondary school is called ‘scuola secondaria di primo grado’ and it lasts 3 years after elementary school.

7. In eight cases the respondents were interviewed twice, in order to respect the project’s methodological requirements. The second interviews were concentrated on cases which appeared as particularly interesting in terms of dynamicity and overall significance in relation to the project’s objectives.

8. A more detailed explanation of both methodology and conceptual framework can be found in Tomassini (2016)

9. The following paragraph contains a detailed explanation of the four factors.

10. Literacy and numeracy as assessed within the PIIAC international project (PIIAC, 2013) are a fundamental term of reference from this viewpoint.

11. Here the term ‘cluster’ does not in any way refer to the result of clustering procedures typical of quantitative analysis. Instead, we use the term ‘cluster’ to refer to cases which present similar characteristics in relation to the four aspects identified as crucial in our theoretical framework (learning agency, personal infrastructure, self-identity construction and socio-economic background). As typical of qualitative studies, the relatively small number of cases in each cluster is balanced by a very in-depth analysis of each case, aimed to understand the subjective viewpoint of each worker with few formal qualifications and to provide understanding of the variety of reasons for his/her disengagement from education and continuous learning.

12. Private school whose final certificate is acknowledged by the Region Lazio. Italian Regions have jurisdiction for the promotion and control of vocational institutions within their territory.

13. Upper secondary vocational school that prepares for jobs in hotels and restaurants.

14. By ‘low learning scar’ the author refers to the condition of people whose negative experiences with education, often caused or reinforced by heavily disadvantaged socio-economic contexts and family situations, become an indelible mark and an obstacle to further learning and development in life (Tomassini, 2016).

15. The term ‘atypical’ work contracts refers to short term contracts that generally entail lower salaries and protection against unjust firing, fewer benefits and less contribution than ‘typical’ open end contracts.

16. This practice, called ‘caporalato’ in Italian, although illegal, is widely spread.