Fayval Williams | TVET is critical to meeting job market needs

In its report on the Reform of Education in Jamaica, The Jamaica Education Transformation Commission noted that “Jamaica has a great need for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) education”.

The Ministry of Education and Youth is addressing this need through a number of seismic shifts, which are expected to radically uproot the TVET infrastructure which now exists.

These shifts are situated on two major pillars, an overhaul of how and where TVET is introduced and infused on the rung of education and training, and legislative changes to facilitate the reset.

The TVET makeover is a direct response to the unique needs of Jamaica’s economy at this time. For there to be a foundational shift in how the majority of our students see TVET, a much earlier introduction, this at the primary school, is needed. Jamaica’s peculiar skills challenges demand this radical reset.

The reality is our students make up their minds about what they want, or don’t want, like or don’t like, long before they get to the secondary level, where TVET is traditionally infused and introduced.

In today’s globally competitive environment, where skills and certification are hard currency, TVET must be seen as a critical conduit to supplying the job market with highly competent and productive citizens who can help to rapidly increase Jamaica’s participation in the fourth industrial revolution. This participation must not only lean on the adaption of best practices from abroad.

MAJOR ERROR

Educational models, which are generously replicated today, were created by societies to suit their needs. A major error that is often made especially by developing societies is the adaption of foreign templates without reference to the needs of home jurisdictions.

Studies have shown that this kind of approach often results in the wastage of huge amounts of resources and minimal success. Differentiated pathways to learning make sense because students learn in many different ways. A fit-for purpose education system for today, not a decade or 50 years ago, must cater to the needs of today’s learners and must respond to the needs of today’s economic demands.

According to UNESCO (2015), TVET “includes work-based learning and continuing training and professional development which may lead to qualifications”.

It involves learning to learn, the development of literacy and numeracy skills, transversal skills (skills linked or combined with other skills) and citizenship skills. In acquiring skills, opportunities for productive work are increased, so is the ability for sustained livelihoods, in a wide range of occupational areas, such as medical and health care, information technology, construction, global support services, robotics, hospitality, aviation, engineering, and the creative industries.

TVET AND LABOUR FORCE

Countries, such as Germany, Australia, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have strategically positioned TVET in their education system to address national concerns, such as skills shortages and youth unemployment. The Caribbean Community has long promoted TVET as the engine that will drive sustained economic growth in the region.

TVET and skills development connect education to technical training, and technical training to labour market entry. On entry, workers have access to lifelong learning opportunities through the National Qualifications Framework of Jamaica, which facilitates the acquisition of competencies to articulate from lower to higher levels in the framework thereby improving academic and technical skills and the ability to earn decent wages.

Individuals can be up-skilled, retrained, assessed and certified to international standards through this mechanism. Developing a culture of lifelong learning can change the perception of training to a lifetime pursuit which can increase the likelihood that untrained workers will seek training to gain professional qualifications.

Again, given the huge value-added and dire need for skilled workers, locally and internationally TVET’s introduction and infusion at the primary level makes eminent sense.

LEGISLATIVE SHIFTS

Legislative changes that will soon allow for the University Council of Jamaica to accredit TVET programmes is a big win for education. This will help to lessen many of the longstanding stigmas which are applied to non-traditional academic learning.

The fact that the Vocational Training and Development Institute now has pride of place as a fully fledged institution in the Ministry of Education and Youth, will facilitate the trust to outfit the education systems with more TVET specialist teachers.

TVET is a very integral rung on the education ladder because, among other things, it prepares students for the job market as it is, not one that some would like to preserve. TVET is an important component of lifelong learning and can take place at all stages of learning, not just the secondary, post-secondary and tertiary levels. Jamaica has made the unprecedented step to introduce and infuse TVET in primary schools. Small islands can develop best practices too. It is not beyond us.

Fayval Williams is the Minister of Education and Youth. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com