Re-imagining the paths to socio-economic transformation - The way forward (Pt 3)

Canute S. Thompson, Guest Columnist

The obstacles faced by many countries in the integration of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the mainstream education system result not only from negative perceptions of students, though that is a factor as our research has shown.

Those negative perceptions exist among parents, the general public, and even businesses in the private sector. This problem is not peculiar to Jamaica. In many countries, students entering the vocational education stream find it difficult, if not impossible, to proceed to higher education.

TVET is seen by many as a dead end. Pakistan, for example, reports that transition for a student from TVET to general education is not easy, as TVET has often been associated with stigmas that obstruct personnel and skill acquisition, and development.

Obstacles to the integration of TVET in mainstream education exist even within the university sector, though there are positive signs that some of those obstacles are being overcome. The University of the West Indies (UWI) and other national universities across the Caribbean have, for a long time, been involved in the design and delivery of various TVET programmes, but in many cases these programmes were not labelled as such. While this has begun to change, there remains some obstacles.

It is not without significance then that the first Caribbean Conference on TVET and Human Capacity Development (HCD) was held as recently as March 2012, and degree programmes in TVET leadership introduced at the UWI as late as September 2010; this, after years of effort and resistance from various quarters and persistence on the part of the Drs Halden Morris, Moses Peart and Disraeli Hutton.

HEART TRUST/NTA

Work being done by the National Training Agency (NTA) is focused on building the employability consciousness of students, parents and teachers, as well as policymakers. According to Jamaica's NTA, the need to reform the TVET system is driven by factors such as:

The need to increase competitiveness of firms and to improve productivity.

The need to increase the skills and qualification level of the workforce.

The need to expand access of all working-age Jamaicans to training and certification.

The need for a flexible system that enables both full-time and part-time participation, with recognition of prior learning, and with a modular system in which acquired skills accumulate into a qualification over time.

The need to upgrade the existing workforce.

Many people still see TVET as a man with a welding torch or a person with a hammer, or a woman with a baking pan or a sewing machine. A combination of the fact that the major universities have not tended to use the word TVET (at least not till recently) and the fact that so many of the programmes offered by HEART/NTA are in the traditional areas, have compounded the negative perceptions of TVET among many sectors of the Jamaican population - parents, teachers, employers, and students.

Many people fail to recognise that TVET also includes skills such as the aeroplane mechanic, the medical diagnostic-equipment engineer, the cellular-frequency technician, the iPad designer, the food chemist (whether in sugar, yam, potatoes, citrus), architect, water-quality technician, the celebrity fashion designer.

INFLUENCE

In Part 2, we noted that more than 50 per cent of the students in our research were either opposed to TVET as a path for their future or were unsure as to whether they should pursue such a path. We, therefore, argued that students needed a radical reorientation. But as we have shown above, perhaps the majority of persons in Jamaica (as in most countries) need a radical orientation towards TVET.

I suggest that while it is perhaps self-evident that most persons need a radical reorientation towards TVET, special attention should be given to teachers and parents. Let me hasten to add that this special attention is not based on any severe deficiency teachers and parents have, but the critically important role they play in informing, influencing and motivating students. Data from our research support these claims.

When asked whether they thought their teachers and parents would be proud of them if they pursued a career in TVET, 36 of 126 students (28 per cent) said they were unsure whether their teachers would support them, compared to 26 (21 per cent) who expressed doubt about how their parents would feel. The number of those who either disagreed or strongly disagreed was almost the same in both categories.

So when we add the number of those who were unsure to those who disagreed or strongly disagreed, we find that more than 50 per cent of students either have doubts about their parents' and teachers' support for their pursuing a career in TVET, or feel sure they would not get support.

This situation becomes even more complicated. The 'choices'  that students make in their careers
are heavily influenced by their parents and teachers, in many cases.
Given the perceptions, doubts and convictions reported above, the
reshaping of teachers' and parents' attitudes is a critical step in the
process of helping students reorientate themselves towards
TVET.

But I suggest that there is an even greater need
to focus on teachers in the reorientation process, given our research
finding that showed that a whopping 83 per cent of students said their
teachers contributed to their level of motivation. Using the advantage
provided by that influence, the development of new attitudes towards
TVET by teachers could go a far way in redefining students' perceptions
and career choices.

The fact that such a large number
of students say their teachers contribute to their level of motivation
means that the attitude of teachers to TVET is likely to have a
significant impact on students' attitude to TVET and, thus, their
openness to considering careers in the field.

The
importance of the role of teachers and parents is further highlighted by
the fact that the variables (issues) that the research found were of
greatest importance to students were the attitudes of their parents and
teachers to their career choice.

CHARTING THE
FUTURE

There are six major conclusions we can draw
from our findings and discussions in my series of articles this
month:

1. Parents, teachers,
students, policymakers, university administrators and the general public
are not sufficiently aware of the scope and scale of what TVET is and
its contribution to economic
development.

2. Many students have
strong doubts about the level of support they will get from their
teachers and parents if they were to opt for careers in
TVET.

3. Many students still look to teachers for
inspiration, motivation and support for their career
choices.

4. Lack of openness to TVET still exists,
even within the university community, and embrace of TVET in these
contexts is of recent vintage.

5. The economic success
of countries in Asia has been largely built on
TVET.

6. Global GDP is correlated to demand for
TVET-generated materials.

Based on the foregoing, the
following recommendations are offered for further debate and
action:

• (a) That the leadership of primary and
  secondary schools seek to widen and deepen their understanding of TVET
  and make more concentrated efforts to expose students, teachers and
  parents to the value of TVET.
• (b) That universities
  that offer TVET programmes be more vigorous in communicating these under
  the TVET label by creating organisational structures that will allow
  for such studies to be more visibly embraced as central to their
  operations and offerings.
• (c) That the Government
  devote priority resources to the development of TVET
  programmes.
• (d) That agencies, ministries and
  institutions involved in the delivery of programmes that are supportive
  of TVET seek to pursue more rigorous forms of collaboration, including
  with professional bodies such as those representing architects,
  engineers, etc.
• (e) That programme offerings by
  entities involved in the delivery of TVET programme pay close attention
  to the kinds of products and services that are in global demand and
  those that are forecasted to be, and position such programmes to be
  responsive to these demands.

Dr Canute Thompson is
co-founder and convener of the Caribbean Leadership Re-Imagination
Initiative (which contributed this article), a unit of the Centre for
Leadership and Governance, UWI. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com
and canutethompson1@gmail.com