THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY

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CHAPTER3 THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY

 INTRODUCTION

Vocational Education and Training (VET) has become the term that is often associated with economic development. Various international organizations such as United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) have always associated VET with economic development. During its 2002 General Conference UNESCO recommended that VET “should be a vital aspect of the education process in all countries, and in particular should …contribute to cultural and economic development”. Vocational Education and Training is used somehow as an umbrella term that includes various derivatives such as Vocational Education, Technical Education, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Further Education and Training (FET) in the South African context. In this chapter the term VET will be used to encompass all these terms.
The global community is increasingly depended on VET for economic development and growth (Keating, Medrich, Volkoff & Perry, 2002). After all VET is the only system of education that can meet the continuous changing needs of learners, employers and national economies (McGrath, 2005). Concerns from various stakeholders attest to this. National governments are concerned about the performance of VET institutions and employers are concerned about labor productivity and both these are linked to VET. Keating, et al., (2002:16) cites Australia as a country that now and then uses VET to intervene in their economy when it is not doing well. Wolfe (1998) indicates that this tendency is also evident in the UK.
Most of the countries associate VET with skills development for economic growth and labour productivity (Keating, et al., 2003:13). VET is also associated with labour productivity. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the structure that advocates this notion at all its platforms (ILO, 1989). Skills development is one critical aspect that is always attached to VET in order to increase productivity in workplace. In addition VET is seen as a vehicle to address issues such as youth unemployment and poverty. Countries in Africa have used VET mostly to fight the scotch of poverty in the continent and to some extend have succeeded. According to Atchoarena & Delluc, 2001:185 those countries in Sub-Saharan Africa like Botswana have developed VET policies that drive skills development. People who have skills are in the first instance employable and can therefore compete in the job for employment.
The biggest challenge for governments in VET is the development of policies in order for counties to benefit from VET provision (Worldwide Voice of Vocational Training, 2006:11). Whilst many countries especially in Africa are battling with the development of policies that will address economic development and growth, poverty and skills development Blanco (2002) indicates that this should not be the case. Blanco (2002: 5) refers to a term ‘policy migration’ as a solution to developing sound VET policies. According to Blanco (2002: 5) countries can now learn from each other on areas of excellence and be able to influence growth and development. Those countries that are battling with policy can import VET policies from countries that have developed good policies in the areas in which they are battling. However care should be taken that contexts of countries will differ and modifications will be required by the importing country.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Various organizations have been in the forefront of the development of VET at an international level. The World Bank is one such organization and has developed significant policy for VET as early as the 1970s. Subsequently a number of studies have been conducted and commissioned by the World Bank (Talik, 2002:14; cf.: Grerson, 2001:22; Gray, Fletcher, Foster, & King, 2004:8). International conferences and seminars have been held on the subject VET policy. For instance in 1989 the International Labour Orgnization (ILO) hosted a major international seminar titled ‘Training for work in the informal sector’ (McGrath, 2005:2). The objectives of the seminar were firstly, to raise the profile of training in the informal sector and secondly to take formal, public VET providers and making them more responsive to the preparation for (self) employment in the informal sector (McGrath, 2005:2). It is McGrath’s (2005:2) assertion that contributions at this seminar paved the way for many interventions that were emerging around the area of articulation at an international level between formal training systems and the informal sector.
Another important development in VET policy debate was the World Bank policy document. In 1991 the World Bank published a new policy paper on vocational education and training (World Bank, 1991). This was a new strategy for the World Bank on vocational education. While in 1989 the ILO seminar focused on making public VET provision responsive to the needs of the informal sector and self-employment, the World Bank in its 1991 strategy focused mainly on the role of private provision. McGrath (2005:3) indicates that in this policy the World Bank assumed that private provision was always likely to be more efficient than public and that training should always be left in the hands of employers. Atchoarena (2001:18) indicates that indeed policy for public provision has not been able to drive skills development as effectively as private providers.
Issues such as lack of relevance, lack of attention and support to change attitudes of public providers and the reluctance to pay sufficient attention to globalization, has caused public provision to lack behind.
It is in this light that the World Bank policy is now placing a strong emphasis on the reform of public providers. McGrath (2005:3) indicates that the World Bank strategy enjoined colleges to become more responsive to the labor market while also making a strong call that more control to be given to employers during the design and development of training (Atchoarena, 2001:18). In short the 1991 World Bank policy made a call that training for skills should be demand-led. Employers should take the lead in terms of the design and development of training materials and public colleges were expected to train people based on the needs as identified by employers.
Another key player in the area of VET is UNESCO. This organization has played a critical role in VET policy development internationally. . According to Tilak (2002:5) UNESCO started contributing to the development of VET as early as 1974. Tilak (2002:5) indicates that in 1974 UNESCO adopted an all important recommendations concerning VET. This recommendation argued that VET should be an integral part of general education as a means of preparing people for an occupational field. Secondly in 2000 it was UNESCO that suggested that Bangladesh prepare its overcrowded population for the labor market. This suggestion was further emphasised by the World Bank in 2002. Lastly to show its commitment to VET UNESCO has established a division within itself that deals directly with issues of VET and this is called ‘Division for Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education (STV). This STV division is based at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. According to Rwambula (2003:183) the STV division is responsible for standards setting in VET globally. It can therefore be argued that VET has and is receiving international attention because of its potential to development human capital.
There are also other internationally acclaimed organizations that have contributed to the development of VET and such includes the International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) and Danish Aid Agency (Danida). According to Atchoarena and Delluc (2001:67) Danida is dispensing money to various countries including South Africa for the development of VET policies. Therefore the status and importance of VET globally cannot be overemphasized if organizations such as the UNESCO, IVETA, the Commonwealth and many others find themselves still allocating resources to advance and promote it. For instance the European Union (EU) has a strongly supported VET policy throughout Europe (Donor Policies, 2001:28). It is agued that the main focus of the EU policies has been on industrialization, regional cooperation and international trade, poverty alleviation and employment (Donor Policies, 2001:28). Most global regions are actively involved although this area is not their priority, in the promotion and support for VET and these include America, Africa, East Asia; Europe; and Latin America and the Caribbean, among others

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THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

In September 2001 a declaration called “Declaration on skills development” was formulated and developed during the Interlaken conference on ‘Linking work, skills and knowledge’ from the 10th to the 12th September 2001 (Rwambulla, 2003:180). According to Rwambulla (2003:180) the purpose of the declaration was twofold. Firstly it was to send a strong signal to all stakeholders that skills development was an important development issue and secondly to also serve as a reconfirmation by the global community of the need to improve linkages between education and training, knowledge and skills.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION, PROBLEM FORMULATION, AIM AND RESEARCH DESIGN
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 BACKGROUND
1.3 RATIONAL OF THE STUDY
1.4 POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION DILEMMA
1.5 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.6 AIM OF THE STUDY
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.8 CHAPTER REVIEW
CHAPTER 2 POLICY CONCEPTUALIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION
2.1 INRODUCTION
2.2 DEFINING PUBLIC POLICY
2.3 THE PROCESS OF POLICY MAKING
2.4 THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATING POLICY
2.5 THE PROCESS OF PUBLIC POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
2.6 CHAPTER REVIEW
CHAPTER 3 THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
3.3 THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
3.4 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY AND THE  INFORMAL ECONOMY
3.5 A VISION FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
3.6 ARTICULATION BETWEEN VOCATIONAL EDUCAION AND TRAINING AND THE BROADER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
3.7 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
3.8 FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN SOUTH AFRICA
3.9 THE FUTURE OF VOCATINALEDUCATION AND TRAINING
3.10 CHAPTER REVIEW
CHAPTER 4 THE RESEARCH DESIGN
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
4.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.4 DATA COLLECTION METHODS
4.5 DATA PROCESING AND ANALYSIS
4.6 CHAPTER REVIEW
CHAPTER 5 DATA PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 DATA PRESNTATION
5.3 VIEWS OF PARTICIPANTS
5.4 FINDINGS
5.5 CHAPTER REVIEW
CHAPTER 6 THE RELATIONSHIP AND CONCLUSIONS
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 THE RELATIONSHIP
6.3 CONCLUSION
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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