Iran is taking steps to bridge the gap between age-old skills learned in family workshops and the demands of a modern, competitive labour market.
Abdolhossein Nazerian, International Academic Affairs Director at the Technical and Vocational University of Iran, outlined the reforms under way to integrate traditional forms of learning into the country’s broader skills ecosystem.
At a meeting of the BRICS Skills Auditorium in April, Nazerian explained that Iran’s skills development system rests on three distinct pillars: formal, informal, and non-formal training.
Formal training, overseen by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, covers everything from K-12 education to university-level technical and vocational programmes, with certificates that are nationally recognised. Informal training, meanwhile, encompasses a sprawling network of over 12,000 providers offering certified TVET courses, short-term workshops, and partnerships between industry and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These are increasingly flexible and geared to meet the demands of a rapidly changing job market.
It is the third category, however, that poses the greatest challenge — non-formal training. This is typically rooted in traditional family-based apprenticeships, where skills are passed down from one generation to the next in small workshops, often with little or no written certification. Whether in carpet weaving, ceramics, metalwork, tailoring, or other artisanal crafts, these skills have historically been recognised only within local communities.
The problem, Nazerian stressed, is that while these family-based training systems sustain cultural heritage and provide livelihoods, they lack mechanisms for portability. Workers trained this way often find their skills are not recognised when they seek employment beyond their immediate community. Without nationally or internationally accepted certification, mobility is limited and integration into broader labour markets becomes difficult. This has real consequences.
Iran’s economy, like others in the BRICS+ grouping, faces urgent pressure to reskill and upskill its workforce amid the twin disruptions of digitalisation and the green transition. Without pathways to validate traditional skills, valuable knowledge risks being excluded from new industries and regional labour markets.
Nazerian proposed several multilateral solutions designed to help countries like Iran integrate non-formal skills into formal labour markets. These include establishing a BRICS Skills Accreditation Council for mutual recognition of certificates in sectors like artificial intelligence and green technology; introducing a blockchain-based Digital Skills Passport to allow workers to share credentials securely across borders; and creating a BRICS Skills Observatory to track emerging demands. He also suggested joint apprenticeship standards in traditional sectors, which would preserve cultural practices while ensuring quality benchmarks and labour market relevance.
For Iran, success in this area would mean more than labour-market efficiency. It would allow artisans trained in centuries-old family workshops to gain formal recognition, enabling them to compete for opportunities at home and abroad. It could also help preserve traditional skills by giving younger generations a reason to continue learning them, confident that their expertise will be valued beyond the family or village setting.
