Linking Vocational Education to Industry

1. Linking Vocational Education to Industry Andrea Sterzuk October 3, 2013

2. Vocational and technical curriculum • Finch and Crunkilton (1993) tell us that “vocational and technical curriculum has certain characteristics that distinguish it from the rest of the educational milieu” (p. 12). • These characteristics represent the potential parameters of any curriculum that “has as its controlling purpose the preparation of persons for useful, gainful employment” (p. 12).

3. Characteristics: Finch & Crunkilton (1993) • School-Workplace--Community Relationships Career and technical education is charged with the responsibility of maintaining strong ties with a variety of agriculture, business, and industry-related areas.    Since there are a number of potential "customers" in the community who are interested in products (graduates), the curriculum must be responsive to community needs. 

4. Characteristics: Finch & Crunkilton (1993) • Employers in the community are, likewise, obligated to indicate what their needs are and to assist the school in meeting these needs.  This assistance might consist of employers serving on curriculum advisory committees, donating equipment and materials to the schools, or providing internships and shadowing experiences for students. • Whatever relationship exists between the career and technical curriculum and the community, it should be recognized that strong school-workplace-community partnerships may often be equated with curriculum quality and success.

5. Questions • Do you or your learning institution (college, secondary school, training program) have relationships with industry? • What is the nature of these relationships? • Is industry involved in determining the curriculum offered at your learning institution? At what stages? In what ways?

6. Stakeholders & Curriculum Development • Matthew & Ede (2010) demonstrates the potential consequences of disconnect between vocational training and industry. • Findings from their survey of technical college teachers as well as well as mechanical staff at automobile assembly plants in Nigeria revealed that the college’s curriculum had lost its validity and students were ill-prepared in terms of relevant knowledge and skills. • The authors argue that a “prompt intervention is now indispensable if the occupational future of the large number of youths being rolled out of the programmes will be saved and secured” (p.93).

7. Stakeholders & Curriculum Development • Hall & Thomas (2005) also calls for greater linkage between higher education and employers in Malawi. They offer 5 conclusions: • “Existing links between higher education & employers are weak • There is evidence that higher education is not providing the quality of graduate that is necessary to meet the needs of the nation. • Colleges specialising in post-secondary TVET are suffering from especially severe resource constraints • Recognition by employers of academic and vocational qualifications gained during higher education does not match graduates’ expectations. • Collaborative activities between higher education and employers offer the potential for mutual enrichment and enhancement” (p. 77).

8. Stakeholders & Curriculum Development • Komla & Offei-Ansah (2011) also highlights the difficulties involved in linking vocational and technical education to industries in Ghana. • Their paper argues that “even though there is awareness of the need for these linkages, the curricula does not adequately cover practices in the actual industries” (p. 53). • Citing Anamuah-Mensah et al. (2005) the authors argue that part of the problem may be that curricula are “examination-driven.” They argue that gap between school content and “needs of society” can perhaps be closed by forging links between teachers and industrialists (p.55).

9. Industry-based vs. School-based Training • “Industry based training is one organized by industries for prospective and existing employees of the said industry. Such schools are usually attached to the industry and organized by employers who use some of the experienced supervisors of the actual industry as teachers” • “ This type of training is similar to the ones advocated by Snedden (1920) and Prosser (1925). The industry based training is financed, organized and delivered by public entities and is said to be private sector training. The government may only come in when it comes to the regulatory aspects of the training, for example to check the indiscriminate behaviour of some TVET providers” (Amu & Christine, 2011, p. 55).

10. Industry-based vs. School-based Training • “The main characteristics of the school based system is that the structure and content of the curriculum is organized by the school in relation to general education. They organize their own infrastructure and provide training materials which may include machines, equipment and tools for the purpose of training the individual as the mindset to make them creative, it also equips students with the relevant entrepreneurial skills that are taught in schools. School-based programmes also help in the increase of women in TVET” (Amu & Christine, 2011, p. 55).

11. Industry-based vs. School-based Training • “According to Miller (1985), the school based programme is known to have some demerits which include the fact that most of the teachers in a school based system do not have “hands on” experience of what actually transpires in the industry and so do not relate the classroom experience to the work place effectively. Furthermore, according to Pautler’s (1990) view, expertise and ever changing technological trends are not usually and effectively incorporated into the curriculum; thus, students pass and then have to be re-taught what actually goes on in the industry” (Amu & Christine, 2011, p. 55).

12. Questions • Komla & Offei-Ansah (2011) explain that policy-makers have not considered phasing out school-based vocational education to make way for solely on-the-job training. • What do you think? Would on-the-job training be possible? Or can schools create the kind of hands-on experience required? • Can curricula be revised regularly enough to correspond with changing technological trends? • Is developing linkages with industries possible? • Can vocational education programmes prepare students who can meet the skilled manpower needs of the country?

13. Recommendations (Amu & Christine 2011) • “Institutions should have liaison offices and employ people who are well versed in public relations and industrial practices to help create meaningful links • Seminars, field trips and excursions should be incorporated into the academic curriculum so that it will help expose students to real working environments while still undergoing academic training. • Schools and local industries should collaborate to organize seminars and workshops where they will share information on the changing trends in industrial practices and how these changes can be incorporated into the curriculum of the schools” (2011, p. 59).

14. Recommendations (Amu & Christine 2011) • At the national level, institutions that have oversight responsibility on technical and vocational education should be charged with putting up structures and policies that will facilitate industrial-institutional links. • It is also recommended that in the course of the development of curricula for the department, the local industry must be involved for industry to have input into the curricula regarding their training (p. 59).