NN46, September 2011
Towards a New Global World of Skills Development? TVET's turn to Make its Mark
TVET and the Poor: the Promise and the Challenges
By Stephen Lamb, Centre for Research on Education Systems, University of Melbourne
Email: lamb@unimelb.edu.au
Keywords: Education for all; lifelong learning; poverty reduction; educational policy.
Summary: This piece examines briefly some of the prospects and challenges for TVET in helping promote lifelong education and meeting the needs of the most disadvantaged.
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Increased reliance is being placed on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to raise educational attainment levels and to improve the labour market and career outcomes of the poor. UNESCO, over time, has emphasised the important role TVET has to play in economic development and poverty reduction, particularly for the most disadvantaged. This view is based on the pivotal role that TVET has in creating a workforce of lifelong learners with the knowledge and skills needed to work with new technology in emerging careers. It is also based on the recognition that it has the capacity to provide those with very little schooling, the most disadvantaged, with the training and skills needed to take advantage of available labour market opportunities. Therefore, it has the potential to not only deliver higher numbers of skilled workers, but also to bridge the gaps between the poor and the wealthy, between those who have been excluded from the benefits of education and training in the past and those who have been more the traditional users or beneficiaries.
The potential for TVET as a democratising force, better able to serve the needs of the poor, is suggested in the role that TVET plays in some developed countries, but these systems also display the challenges and the limitations. One example is provided by Australia where the federal and state governments have established targets to halve the proportion of adult Australians without initial and intermediate-level qualifications, and halve the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in initial qualification (senior school certificate) attainment rates.
It is the poor including the indigenous who are mainly the subject of the targets, and the challenges for these groups are many because they have high levels of additional need (welfare and personal), low levels of achievement, weak literacy and numeracy skills, negative experiences of formal learning, lower aspirations, and the disadvantages associated with poverty. Without targeted and effective interventions, the funds to resource and support them, without widespread reform to improve the image and status of vocational education, and without attempts at improving the quality of delivery, it is not easy to see how current provision can deliver the expansion that is needed.
These are major challenges, yet, the potential exists for TVET to play the key role. The TVET system is already the primary source of education and training provision for a wide range of Australians, particularly for the poor. Early school leavers, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those based in rural areas and those with disabilities make more use of opportunities in TVET than in other forms of education and training to enhance their labour market prospects. TVET is already more likely to contribute to the development of the job-related human capital and lifelong learning of the poor, particularly since the skills it promotes are more closely aligned with employers’ demands, labour market needs and current occupational practice. The TVET system, more directly responsive to industry requirements and labour market opportunities, provides one of the few avenues for many Australians to re-start their education and to obtain employment-oriented training. For disadvantaged groups, it is this which makes TVET both a source of dependence and a potential source of liberation.
So, to achieve the national targets it is TVET that will need to play the critical role as it is one of the most important program options in secondary schools for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, one of the few pathways for recovery available to those without any qualifications, and one of limited options available for adults needing to upgrade or acquire qualifications or to re-engage in study which for some may be after many years without any formal study. As such, it provides the main means for lifting attainment levels and bridging the gap between those with and those without qualifications.
But there are major challenges that need to be faced, such as overcoming the problem of status associated with TVET which is often viewed and treated as a relegation system for those who cannot cope with academic study, and high rates of non-completion associated with the nature of provision and the populations of users. There is also the issue of funding and the need for more resources and resource certainty, obstacles which threaten to limit future growth and potential.
A full version of this paper can be found in:
International Journal of Training Research, Vol. 9, Issue 1-2, Pp. 60-71, 2011.
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Cite article as: Lamb, S., (2011) ‘TVET and the Poor: the Promise and the Challenges’, in NORRAG NEWS, Towards a New Global World of Skills Development? TVET's turn to Make its Mark, No.46, September 2011, pp. 48-49, available: http://www.norrag.org
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