Algeria

The first year of secondary education is comprised of a core curriculum in which courses are grouped into three general areas: accala (languages and social sciences), des sciences (natural and physical sciences and mathematics), and technologie (mathematics, physical sciences, design, and technology.) Extracurricular activities, sponsored by the school or parent associations, are important and include music, painting, and sports. Sports, music, and physical education are also part of the curriculum.

Evaluation is systematic within the secondary school and passage to the next level is based on the results obtained on homework and compositions. Parents are told the results of the evaluations periodically by means of regular bulletins containing each professor's observations and a report at the end of the academic year stating whether the student passed, would be repeating, or would be exclusion (excluded).

At the end of the first year in secondary school, a decision is made as to whether students enter the general secondary education or technical secondary education program based on the wishes of the students, their academic records, and the exigencies of the academic program. For third-year students who have failed the baccalauréate twice, special classes are offered for a total of 19 hours that are tailored to the particular needs of each student. Remedial courses are given daily in the lycées in the evening after normal class hours. The same chance is given to the children returning to the country because they receive a distinct education that permits them to sit for the official exams.

General Secondary Education: The Ministry of Education reports that in 1999, a total of 855,481 students (53 percent girls) were enrolled in secondary education. Students overwhelmingly chose general education (88 percent) over technical education. Some 496,019 students (57 percent girls) were in general education classes while 64,888 students (12 percent girls) were in technical education classes.

General education is considered the most prestigious secondary education and offers five courses of study—exact sciences, natural and life sciences, humanities, foreign language, and religious sciences. The reform of 1985-1986 arranged lessons during the first year of secondary education into core programs to help students identify appropriate specializations by the end of the year. Completion of both technical and general secondary education ends with the baccalauréate examination that determines admission to higher education institutions. Successful completion of general education leads to le diplome de l'enseignement (education diploma).

Technical Secondary Education: There are two types of secondary education: technical and general. Students in technical secondary education study electronics, electrical science/technology, mechanical science, public works and engineering, chemistry, and accounting. Technical education is considered less desirable by Algerians even though new fields of study such as information technology, applied biochemistry, and agricultural education have been added, as well as optional classes in foreign languages and design. Students can specialize in the industrial option of technical education or in the commercial option. The teaching staff is mainly Algerian. Successful study in this program ends with a technical baccalauréate diploma (le diplome du baccalauréat technique).

Vocational Education: Vocational education in Algeria has a checkered past. Independence from the French found Algeria with no national vocational education policy. Colonial authorities often opened vocational schools as a second-class educational option for the "natives," so not surprisingly, after independence, Algerians expressed a strong distaste for this type of schooling. Also at that time, and for decades to come, the government was the principal employer in the country, and general education was viewed as the appropriate form of training for government employment.

State education initiatives of the 1960s emphasized general education programs, with only limited growth of technical and vocational schools. As late as 1979, only 65 vocational training centers existed, with a combined enrollment of 23,000 students. In the absence of a centralized policy and in spite of slow technical growth in the 1960s and 1970s, technical ministries and public industries developed many training programs to meet the demands for skilled manpower. Most were well managed; the National Petroleum Company's training center (SONATRACH) still functions well. The proliferation of these training programs did result in duplication of effort, however.

In 1983, a Ministry of Vocational Education was created to develop a national training system. Vocational education was expanded and diversified to be available to the large number of students completing primary education but "not qualified by disposition or grades" to continue secondary education.

Vocational education was intended to provide graduates with immediate employment and to provide the country with a trained work force as Algeria concentrated on developing heavy industry. Students were to be trained as apprentices for up to five years. Vocational expansion continued and more than 200 training centers were built, tripling enrollment between 1981 and 1987. In 1990, a total of 325 vocational training schools were in operation and about 200,000 apprentices were in training. Vocational skills were also taught as part of the national service program.

Expansion concentrated on building physical facilities rather than on modern equipment and materials, and without planning for the particular specializations and/or the number of trainees needed. Vocational schools operated without links to specific industries. Vocational training responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Education in 1987 when educational philosophy changed. The existing general educational program was refocused toward technical and vocational subjects to change the negative perceptions of technical training and manual labor and to alleviate shortages of skilled workers.

Problems arose in the late 1980s during the worldwide recession. Resources were harder to obtain, training quality declined, and jobs for graduates were scarce. The 1986 drop in oil prices exacerbated the government's financial problems and restricted budget expenditures for education. Only a few training centers actually formed relationships with employers. In spite of decreasing job opportunities, pressure for more vocational training centers increased as a growing school-age population increased the number of dropouts and "push-outs" from the general educational system.

In the early 1990s, Algeria experienced a vocational "crisis." Low student motivation and aptitude were the norm, as those who "couldn't make it" in general education ended up in vocational centers. Low teacher salaries reduced instructional quality as better teachers went to industry. Language difficulties occurred as most instruction in technical subjects was still in French. Finally, poor management and financial constraints compounded all of the other problems.

The oversupply of graduates created a phenomenon of downward vertical substitution, as people with university degrees couldn't get jobs and accepted lower positions. Employers then raised their requirements for those jobs. The lack of systematic, institutionalized job placements meant employment ended up being a very inefficient system of "who you know." A widespread phenomenon of horizontal substitution developed whereby vocational education graduates ended up in positions not related to their training. Poor quality, insufficient funding, and low external efficiency are signs of malfunctions in vocational education, but they are also a normal and logical result of the other role of these schools, that is, the "social parking" function.

The Offices for Practical Works in Vocational Training, created specifically for aiding the production activities of vocational training centers, act as intermediaries between enterprises requiring products and the training centers that provide them. They identify requirements from enterprises, particularly when the demand for products is too large for a single vocational center, fix prices and deadlines, allocate the product demands among various centers, and provide centers with raw materials.

While these offices permit economies of scale from a business perspective, there are educational problems. The main problem is that production and trading concerns very often tend to prevail over pedagogical interests, meaning trainees work on repetitive and monotonous tasks in which the pedagogical dimension is virtually neglected.