Proceedings_ICTVET2019

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ICTVET-2019 Proceedings of the First International Conference on

Technical and Vocational Education and Training For

Employment, Income, and Job Quality September 11-12, 2019 Dhulikhel, Nepal

https://ictvet.kusoed.edu.np/

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#ICTEVT2019 | Dhulikhel, Nepal Organizing Partners

Funded by

Collaborative Partners Funded by

Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training SAKCHYAMTA Project European Union

Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry

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ICTVET-2019 Proceedings Chair Mahesh Nath Parajuli

Editors Rebat Kumar Dhakal & Prakash Kumar Paudel

Open Access This volume is s licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the volume’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the volume’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Published by Kathmandu University School of Education Lalitpur, Nepal November 2019

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Contents Foreword…………………………………………………………....…… 1 Selected Papers 01: Partnering With an Australian Public TVET Provider (TAFE); Expectations of First-time Staff Engagement on Short-term Deployment Ryan Gifford ………………………………………………………...………… 4 02: Greening TVET for a Sustainable Future: A New Initiative Ramhari Lamichhane …………………………...………….…………….…… 18 03: Integrating the World of Work Into Initial TVET Teacher Education in South Africa Andre van der Bijl & Vanessa Taylor ………………..………………………… 39 04: Documenting the Knowledge Management Practices in a Government-Initiated Vocational Training Projects in Nepal: A Case Study on Decentralized Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Project-Additional Financing (2012-2016) Devendra Adhikari ……………………………..……………...……………… 57 05: Vocational Qualifications Framework: An Instrument to Enhance Employment, Income, and Job Quality Devi Prasad Dahal …………………………………………………………… 80 06: Needed Innovative Practices among Public Private Partnership Stakeholders in Technical and Vocational Education for Enhancing Skill Training of the Underprivileged Raymond Emmanuel, Ajunwa Joseph, & Mohd Aminu Mohd ………..………… 97

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07: Revitalizing Jiri Technical School in a Dramatically Changed Context: Governance, Management and Employability Agni Prasad Kafle & Hansruedi Pfeiffer……………………………………… 114 08: Financing of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Nepal Baikuntha Prasad Aryal …………………………....………………………… 128 09: Industry Sector Human Resource Need Survey in Bangladesh: The Gap Between What Job Markets Demand and What TVET Institutions Offer Takujiro Ito, Yoshinaga Nakamura, & Yumi Yamaguchi………….…………… 153 10: Conscientiousness and Motivating Factors: Can They Contribute With Each Other Among TVET Teachers?

Milan Shrestha ………………………………………………....…………… 171

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Foreword On behalf of the Organizing Committees of the International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training 2019, we are very pleased to publish the ICTVET-2019 Conference Proceedings for readers who have interests in the varied facets of TVET. The ICTVET 2019 with the theme “Employment, Income, and Job Quality” was held at Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal from 11 to 12 September 2019. This conference was supported by the LELAM-TVET4INCOME project supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) under their joint "Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development” (r4d programme).

The conference aimed at interfacing distinguished TVET practitioners, policymakers, researchers, employers (industry), and employees (youths) for the enhancement of the TVET sector. With two-day’s rigorous interaction, we largely developed a message that the linkage between skill and job market is essential for improving employability, income and thus the job quality.

More than 250 faculty members, graduate students, post-doc researchers, TVET scholars and practitioners from 35 countries across the globe including Nepal, India, Benin, Switzerland, USA, Chile, Costa Rica, Australia, participated in the conference in which 3 plenary keynotes, 92 papers and 3 workshops were delivered/ presented/organized. We believe this conference provided a platform for researchers (novice and adept) in TVET sector to present their research (ongoing and completed) and gain insightful feedback to improve them further. Likewise, participants with varied experiences from different contexts also got an opportunity to network and build strong professional relationships thereby creating a community of TVET practitioners and scholars.

The full papers submitted to the conference were screened through the standard review process by the scientific committee and selected 10 papers to be included in this volume. Opportunities are open for the presenters to further revise their papers based on the feedback in the conference and submit for possible publication in a peer

ICTVET-2019 Proceedings reviewed journal. The Journal of Education and Research, a biannual publication of Kathmandu University School of Education, will accept submissions to be considered for a special issue on TVET. We thank all the organizing and collaborative partners for their warm welcome and generous support which contributed to the success of the conference. Likewise, we thank the delegates, participants and volunteers for their active participation in and contribution to the conference.

Mahesh Nath Parajuli Conference Chair Kathmandu University, Nepal

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Selected Papers

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Article 01 Partnering With an Australian Public TVET Provider (TAFE); Expectations of First-time Staff Engagement on Short-term Deployment Ryan Gifford Doctoral Student, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia Abstract This paper is part of a discussion chapter from an ongoing EdD thesis regarding firsttime Australian staff engagement on International offshore projects. The project was managed by a Government-owned and funded registered TVET training organisation, known in Australia as a “TAFE” (Tertiary and Further Education). The year-long study was conducted by a participant researcher following a triangulated methodology of observation, document analysis and interviews. Some results found indicated that outside consultants responded differently to contextual circumstances than TAFE institute staff, and staff groupings can result in distinctly varied engagement. This may have implications for pre-deployment induction and in-country handling of TAFE staff on an international TVET project for the first time.

Keywords: First-time Staff Engagement; Public TVET Provider; Partnering Expectations; Deployment Introduction The major overall issue of this research is related to staff disaffection on international (short-term) projects related to an educational objective. This is important as TVET transnational education is becoming increasingly prominent in Australia, and staffing situations are changing away from traditional long-term embedded expats, to shortterm assignments. In an educational environment it is important that staff on assignment are clear about what goals are expected and that these goals either remain true in context (during the offshore assignment) or are acceptably dealt with if they change. Ethical dissonance can lead to a number of negative aspects (“expat failures”)

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in relation to international projects: from early return to apathetic work output.

Proactive measures are needed to make sure staff get the maximum benefit from the experience. First-time-deployed TVET staff should make a timely, informed, rational and logical determination if they wish to return to work on short-term offshore projects. A decision that is immediate, emotional and ill-informed is not likely a good decision, no matter if they decide to work internationally again or not.

Literature Review The literature review started broadly with overviews of expatriate worker articles, worked through general issues of education project staff, and gained clarity with a focus on short-term Australian TVET project staff. Initial articles reviewed revealed extensive research into the expatriate worker (Altman & Baruch, 2012; Adler, 1998; Eskerod & Blichfeldt, 2005; Harzing & Christensen, 2004), and much research into the projects or assignments (Hall, 1985; Goodman & Goodman 1976; Meyskins, 2009; Mckenna, Ducharme & Budowrth, 2009). However, the majority focused more on multi-national corporations (Ashamalla, 1998; Bredillet, Dwivedula & Ruiz, 2009) and human resource policy (Chew, 2004; Crowne, 2009) and less on managing the staff in international environments. For this research study, four main conceptual areas were found to be most relevant: the concept of the expatriate worker and issues they traditionally face (Ramsey & Schaetti, 1999; Price, Herrod & Burns-Green, 2012); traditional organization of project work or assignments (Tahvanainen, Welch & Worm, 2005; Packendorff, 1995; Smith, 2014) insights into Australian off-shore educational projects (Dempsey, 2011; DEST, 2005; NCEVR, 2009) and finally the staffing issues these projects may experience (NQC, 2011; Ross, 2011; Wheelan & Moodle, 2010).

This pointed to a gap in specific understanding of TVET staff contextual engagement with international education projects.

Setting The specific project was undertaken in an educational institute in an oil-rich Middle eastern country. The host country is working towards nationalising its work-force, and in keeping with this national vision of educational sustainability, aimed to improve the access of local youth to the banking and finance sector. This transpired by creating a

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special “banking” school for secondary-age boys that follows an Australian (therefore, “international”) curriculum from the competency-based “Training Package in Business and Finance”.

A Government-funded Australian TVET Institute (TAFE) successfully tendered for the project, and the original school was opened in October 2010 solely for boys. In August 2015 another campus was opened for girls. The Australian curriculum was used to maintain international standards and therefore was subject to intense compliance in Australia by national education regulators. Staff for the boys’ school was selected via a recruitment process in 2010. Staff for the girls’ school was hired August 2015. The revamped multi-school three-year project commenced a few months later and was set to finish in 2018. A final 1-year hand-over period contract was discussed in early 2018 but abandoned. The project finished July 31, 2018 and all staff contracts finished at that time. As of August 2019 the schools continues to operate, but without Australian input or certification.

Methodology The research was qualitative research; an interpretivist case study as a participant observer. Document collection was followed by observation of the participants in the workplace and interviews of staff via purposive sampling. The inquiry method of “Institutional Ethnography” (IE) was used as a guide to investigate how multi-level organisational texts influence ruling-relations and the actual social/work experiences of TAFE TVET staff engaged on an international educational project.

Template analysis was utilised for analysis of field notes, interviews and collected texts.

Participants The participants were Australian vocational education professionals who contributed to the Banking and Finance secondary school project. The total amount of interviewed staff across all nested units of research was 8. All participants were Australian, aged between 60-62 and were on their very first international position.

On international TVET projects most TAFE staff will be internal volunteers, but there can arise a need to hire external contractors. In a TAFE, the different personnel sent for inclusion on the project may come from an array of departments. The main

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delineation is between teaching staff, technical staff, administrative staff and management. However, this particular TVET project also hired full-time external teaching consultants. Hiring external contractors to fill-in job roles is a common occurrence on international projects. This is deemed “high performance team design” and is necessary when either institute staff are unavailable (due to work commitments or no applicants apply internally), or there is no-one available with the expertise required.

Procedure The data collection took place over the final school year of the project, from November 2017 to June 2018. As a participant observer, the researcher was able to gather substantial observation data, as well as have access to project documentation.

Interviews were semi-structured and lasted about an hour each. Staff was interviewed about four separate chronological phases during their input; i) Pre-deployment, ii) immediate arrival, iii) working in situ, and iv) post-deployment. The international interviews included one staff member at the boys’ school and two from the girls’ school. On return to Australia a further, 5 short-term members of staff were interviewed. These participants were 4 male and 1 female and aged between 35-60; all, except one, on their first international assignment. Participant observer archival notes and observations were used to flesh out the experiences of these participants.

Analysis The externally hired consultants living in the host country long-term have been labelled the External contractors. The TAFE institute staff interviewed were those who managed short-term assignments, usually anywhere from 1-10 weeks, and were labelled Staff Teachers, Staff Technical, Staff Consultant, and Staff Management. This resulted in 5 main staffing groups for comparative analysis.

Coding Thematic template analysis was used for comparison across and between texts, transcripts and field notes. The template approach uses the technique of coding texts and looking out for an identifiable theme or topic. Recurring segments are noted and allows for an organised assembly that can be interpreted. (Waring & Wainright, 2006).

Documents were classified according to their capture level (institute or individual) and

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text type. A critical reading of these documents shows potential indicators or behavioural events. These were noted and coded, and after enough data had been generated and analysed these codes eventuated into themes. The consistency and differences of these themes was cross-checked against the reality of the work observed. Advocates of template analysis have differing positions regarding setting codes; pre-defined or developed after initial exploration. This study took a half/half approach to code-setting; some codes initially set as determined by the interview questions. The remaining codes refined as the data collection commenced.

Results The findings show that all staff went through 6 similar categories during the chronological phases. Table 1 outlines the same experiential categories mentioned by the participants.

Firstly, they mentioned motivations that inspired them to search and apply for the positions. Secondly, they then discussed preparation prior, and what they felt they knew and what they felt they did not know. Thirdly, after arriving in the host country, all felt a lack or loss of control, this usually taking place in the first few days of placement. Penultimately, as the time in the host country progressed, all participants mentioned feelings of distance from the Australian institute and how this led to a shifting of priorities for them. The last phase, post-deployment, was categorised by the now experienced staff member offering their feelings on success and some advice for other first-time VET staff contemplating international project work.

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Table 1: Time phase as connected to category Project phase Predeployment

Immediate Arrival Working in situ

Category 1. Motivation 2. Perceived knowns and unknowns 3. Control issues 4. Distancing 5. Priority Shifting

Postdeployment

6. Feelings and advice

Meaning Reasons/feelings the participant gives for partaking in the project Things the participant feels they do know, do not understand fully, or presume to know.

The participant feels a lack or loss of control; unable to work “normally�

The participant feels or notes exclusion or isolation from the home office The participant uses actions or words to adjust their work environment The participant recounts their feelings postdeployment and offers advice for other firsttime staff considering an international VET project.

These groups responded divergently to some aspects of international project work, while other aspects a solidarity was noticed. A comparative analysis of these groups enables the researcher to note interesting differences and similarities for discussion.

Table 2 shows each staffing group compared from pre-deployment through to postdeployment and how different factors involved in different staffing are compared for analysis.

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Table 2 Different groups exhibit different themes per category Project Phase

Predeployme nt (Epistem ology) Perceptio n

Catego ry

Action Extern Staff s al Teache Contr rs actors 1.Motivat Expecta -Money -Job ion tions duty Advent ure Adventu re

2.

Perceived knowns and unknown s Immediat 3. e Arrival Control (Ontolog issues y) Contextu al reality

Staff Staff Techni Consul cal tant

-Job duty Professi onal Challen ge Percept -Job -Job role -Job ions role role Context Success of Unclear indicato training line r manage ment Reality/ -Ruling -Ruling -Ruling dissona relation relations relation nce s (Student s (leaders conflict) (Local hip -In-situ leaders uncerta context hip inty) ual interfer -In-situ dissonan ence) context ce -Time ual availabl dissona e nce

Staff Managem ent

-Job duty Professi onal develop ment Stakehol ders -Job role text

-Job duty -Business developmen t

-Ruling relations (Staff conflict) -Goal incongru ence

-Ruling relations (boss stakeholder) -Goal incongruenc e

-Context -Project text

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4.

Distancin g

Help far away

5. Priority Making Shifting their own way

Postdeployme nt (Review and refine)

6.

Feelings and advice

Experie nced

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-Job role shift -Selfgoverni ng behavio urs Experie ntial benefits Satisfie d - Align with locals more

Onshor e vs offshore goal incongru ence Executiv e decision s - Time - Goal restruct ure - Ethical quandari es

Ignored Executi ve decisio ns

Context ual dissonan ce - Forced indepen dence

Managemen t expectation realignment -Executive decisions

- Time -Local staff relation ships -Selfgoverni ng behavio urs

- Selfgovernin g behavio urs executiv e decision s

-Time -Staff need to realign expectation s

- Wants more - Don’t prepare too much prior

- Will go back - More time for scoping

Unsatisfi ed -Be prepare d for unknow ns in situ

- Satisfied -Be prepared to adapt in situ

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Positive and negative issues are now able to be explored and weighed against each other, and ruling relations can be considered in comparison. This may lead to a better understanding of how different staff engage with international project work.

Conclusions and recommendations are then given on each group.

External Contractors Some negative factors include how Personal motivations can override project goals and lead to self-governance when there is too great a distance and divide between the home and temporary office, especially over time and with staff without prior allegiance to the home institute. Positive considerations are shown in that personal staffing connections are important for creating a viable and usable temporary office, and for longevity of project. In terms of ruling relations, Local staff connections are necessary for project longevity, but too much influence can change project goals clandestinely.

For external contractors it is Important for home office to keep up to date with temporary office. Australian management staff should be aware that international “Self-managing� of international projects is seemingly undemanding on the home institute but can be dangerous due to unchecked misguided management. A steering committee is recommended.

Institute Staff Teacher A negative aspect for this group was that there were conflicting goals and too many bosses. In this instance international staff were still taking orders from the Australian home office with no allegiance to the local project management team. It was obvious that overriding the local donor project goals in favour of Australian institute goals was damaging to the project.

A positive sentiment from this group was the advent of increasing understanding of project expectations by briefing with people who have been on similar projects. It was also noted that personal motivation is important when project goals are unachievable due to outside circumstances. Ruling relations were outlined by local student conflict due to goal incongruence, lack of information, and misinformation. This group illustrated the importance of understanding and respecting local power structure.

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The conclusion from evaluating this group’s contribution is that the only goals on projects should be project goals. When hiring teachers, management must make sure to know, understand and nurture personal motivations of staff. Inductions must include time with someone who has been deployed previously. Recommended that no staff pursue any goals other than what is requested by the original client as outlined in the ToR. Institute Staff Tech With this group a positive assessment is that job-duty / institute-allegiance is a powerful factor in ensuring quality outcomes. Of note is that this group mentions understanding of the concept of “deliverables” and/or “milestones”. Inversely, this group found that reliance on the temporary local office can be confronting and have a difficult time making decisions away from institute management. A common rulingrelations occurrence of this group was local stakeholders causing goal incongruence by asking technical favours unrelated to the project. Finally, for some staff, debriefing is very important.

In conclusion, Institute Staff tech staff are capable and experienced in gaining deliverables but seem to need more nurturing than teaching staff. Pre-departure induction with experienced offshore staff, ongoing formative guidance in situ, debrief and report upon return is recommended.

Institute Staff Consultant Of concern for this group was that seemingly some TVET Teachers (especially language teachers) do not fully understand the concept of ‘deliverables’. Project goals were not fully understood as no access to project-defining texts was facilitated.

Positively, it was evident that a well-run temporary international office can smooth over institute staff issues. Debilitating ruling relations in this particular instance was caused by conflict with local stakeholder which caused personal strife This group made it clear that it is important to make sure project texts are available, read, understood and followed by all stakeholders. Creation of transparent evidential adherence to document control is recommended.

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Institute Staff Management An overwhelmingly noticeable positive outcome of this group was the benefit of experience. Due to previous forays into the region, this staff member was very understanding and immediately aware of situations that were only recently encountered.

However, individualised interpretations of the contractual agreement prior to deployment lead to misunderstandings in-situ. Without consistent visitations the propensity for confusion and self-governance heightened. Ruling relations were dominated by a deference to the locally based project manager.

A conclusion for this group is that an independent project manager has limitations and visitations are important for many reasons. A consistent management visitation schedule is recommended.

Conclusions This small section of research shows immediate benefits to partner with an Australian-Government TVET provider for an international project. However, if firsttime staff are selected for deployment, care must be taken in terms of engagement.

This care should be directly related to the type/group of staff employed.

Motivations and ideas of ruling relations differentiate between groups and it may be prudent for the host/donor to understand and act accordingly for maximum constructive staff engagement. This would hopefully result in a positive experience for all and manifest itself in more productivity and adherence to deliverables and less time trying to restaff positions vacated by discontented project personnel.

Summary of Recommendations To best effectively manage Australian TVET staff deployed for the first time, tt is recommended that the host / donor: 1. Be aware which staff members are first time and how to manage them (Proactive HR reporting methods)

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2. Ensure staff are all clear on operations of management/ ethos/ ruling relations within providers (Pre-deployment information sessions) 3. Provide clear and accessible project documentation, goals and targets. These must be transparent and explicitly understood by all stakeholders (Workfocused induction) 4. Maintain clear documentation and processes (Steering committee) 5. Provide Exit / re-entry follow-up (Project debriefs) References Altman, Y., & Baruch, Y. (2012). Global self-initiated corporate expatriate careers: A new era in international assignments? Personnel Review, 41(2), 233-255.

Ashamalla, M. H. (1998). International human resource management practices: The challenge of expatriation, Competitiveness Review, 8(2), 54.

Bozionelos, N. (2009). Expatriation outside the boundaries of the multinational corporation: A study with expatriate nurses in Saudi Arabia. Human Resource Management, 48(1), 111-134.

Bredillet, C., Dwivedula, R., & Ruiz, P. (2009). Providing work motivation of project workers. For EURAM: Renaissance and Renewal in Management Studies, 1-38.

Chew, J. (2004). Managing MNC expatriates through crises: A challenge for international human resource management. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 12(2), 1-30.

Crowne, K.A. (2009). Enhancing knowledge transfer during and after international assignments. Journal of Knowledge Management, 13(4), 134-147.

Dempsey, K. (2011). Supervision and moderation for offshore delivery: VTI guide to good practice in transnational education – A discussion paper. Melbourne, Austraia: Victorian TAFE International (VTI).

Department of Education Science and Training. (2005). A national quality strategy for Australian transnational education and training: A discussion paper.

Eskerod, P., & Blichfeldt, B. S. (2005). Managing team entrees and withdrawals during the project life-cycle enrolment. International Journal of Project Management, 23, 495-503.

Eskerod, P., & Jepsen, A. L. (2005). Staffing renewal projects by voluntary enrolment.

International Journal of Project Management, 23, 445-453.

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Grahame, P. R., & Grahame, K. M. (2001). Official knowledge and the relations of ruling: Explorations in institutional ethnography. The Journal for Pedagogy, Pluralism, & Practice.

Hall, D.T. (1985). Project work as an antidote to career plateauing in a declining engineering organization. Human Resource Management, 24(3), 271-292.

Harzing, A-W., Christensen, C. (2004). Expatriate failure: time to abandon the concept? Career Development International 9(7), 616-626.

Kealey, D. J. et al. (2005). Re-examining the role of training in contributing to international project success: A literature review and an outline of a new model training program. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 289–316 King, N. (2004). Using templates in the thematic analysis of text. In Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research (pp. 256-270). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Leask, B., & Beelen, J. (2009, October). Engaging academic staff in international education in Europe and Australia. Paper presented at the IEAA-EAIE Symposium: Advancing Australia-Europe Engagement.

McKenna, S., Ducharme, M. J., & Budworth, M. H. (2009). What happens on tour, stays on tour: Failure and teams on short term international assignment.

Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 17(1), 112-127.

Meyskens, M. et al. (2009). The paradox of international talent: alternative form of international assignment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(6), 1439-1450.

National Quality Council (Australia). (2011). Challenges and risks for the future of offshore VET delivery.

NCVER. (2009) Delivery of VET offshore by public providers 2007: Report on a consultancy undertaken for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Australian Government.

Soontiens, W., & Pedigo, K. (2013). Transnational education: An Australian approach to assuring quality and engaging offshore staff. Business Education and Accreditation, 5(2), 41-54.

Tahvanainen, M., Welch, D., & Worm, V. (2005). Implications of short-term international assignments. European Management Journal, 23(6), 663-673.

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Walby, K. (2005). Institutional ethnography and surveillance studies: An outline for inquiry. Surveillance and Society, 3(2-3), 158-172.

Waring, T., & Wainright, D. (2008). Issues and challenges in the use of template analysis: Two comparative case studies from the field. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6(1), 85-94.

Wheelahan, L., & Moodie, G. (2010). The quality of teaching in VET: Options paper.

Australian College of Educators.

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Article 02 Greening TVET for a Sustainable Future: A New Initiative Ramhari Lamichhane, PhD Director General, Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC), Manila, Philippines Abstract TVET is a strategic entry point for sustainable development. The paper explores the possibilities of re-orienting TVET to meet the needs of a more environmental and sustainable future. Being considered as the “master key� to promote lifelong learning and address poverty, TVET policy and implementation must be geared towards the promotion of sustainable practices that are necessary to minimize their impact to the environment and at the same time address labor market demands. The paper tackles ideas such as green jobs, sustainable development goals, green skills, greening TVET practices and initiatives to enhance the sustainability of TVET in the future to meet upcoming global challenges.

This paper is based on secondary sources. It highlights concepts and initiatives undertaken by different countries in Greening TVET. Similarly, it highlights the ways in transforming TVET towards sustainable development. It indicates the challenges to transform TVET into a greening approach. The findings and recommendations of the paper contributes to develop policies, implement programs and manage TVET institutions in a sustainable way through greening practices. It will be useful for researchers, policy makers and TVET practitioners, including industries, to maintain sustainable development initiatives.

Keywords: Sustainable Development; SDGs; Green Occupations or Green Jobs; Green Skills; Greening TVET or Sustainable TVET; TVET for Tomorrow

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TVET and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) After the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, the world embarked on a new set of development goals that will encapsulate the future challenges and needs of the dynamic world and are set to be re-evaluated in 2030. The recommendations of the SDGs are in response to the findings of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and are set to build on its progress and incorporate a more sustainable approach in requiring developing countries to effectively improve the standard of living of their citizens.

Figure 1: UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (Source: United Nations, 2015) The role of TVET in ensuring the fulfillment of the development goals came as early as 1999, in which the participants of UNESCO’s Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education held in Seoul, Korea agreed that the upcoming century will be “an era of knowledge, information and communication” and have

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recognized TVET’s potential to transform society and economy through the encouragement of lifelong learning, social cohesion, international citizenship and sustainable development.

Fast forward to 2017, TVET has consistently reinvented itself to be a discipline that does not only actively provide technical skills to workers but also contributes to the awareness and improvement of education by generating green jobs. In the sustainable development goals matrix, TVET aims to contribute to Goal 4, which is the promotion and implementation of quality education for all.

UNESCO (2014) acknowledged that improvements in TVET implementation can lead to huge gains not only in the quality of education but also in gender equality and living conditions. However, the recent clamor is to further reorient TVET’s goals to sustainable development through the creation of environmentally sound practices and creation of green jobs that will be beneficial to both the worker and the administrator in the long run. An effective TVET also leads to significant improvements in technological capability and innovation, as demonstrated by some of the countries that had a high-technology, export-oriented economy such as Singapore and Korea.

Many avenues were explored on the importance of TVET as a major player in the achievement of the green economy towards a better future. The most common concept of sustainable development translates to the definition below: “Sustainable Development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”.

Sustainable development is being lobbied as a battle cry of development advocates as a suited policy direction for the world today, given its ills and problems. However, what is really sustainable development? And how will it be able to provide solutions to the myriad of problems that the world faces.

The 1987 Brundtland Commission highlighted that the goal of achieving sustainable development practices gave rise to several summits and meetings organized by the

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United Nations specifically convening countries towards the agreement of integrating sustainable development in their economic and social agenda. In response, the World Summit on Sustainable Development reaffirmed this commitment and recommended to the United Nations General Assembly the establishment of a United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014), which clearly recognizes the increased need to integrate sustainable development issues and principles into education and learning. Thus, while education clearly is not a sufficient condition in itself for achieving sustainable development, it is certainly a necessary condition.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) The ESD concept was coined by UNESCO as a way to integrate the pillars of education with the common practices in promoting sustainable development. Among other things, ESD promotes a sense of both local and global responsibility, encourages future-oriented, anticipatory thinking, builds recognition of global interdependence and emphasizes cultural changes that embrace the values of sustainable development.

Rather than remaining passive in the face of the above-mentioned challenges, ESD seeks to empower societies, communities and individuals everywhere to shape their future actively and responsibly. ESD raises interesting questions, for example, about learning how to generate creative solutions to current global challenges; about reflecting on new lifestyles which combine well-being, quality of life and respect for nature and other people; and about considering the viewpoints of people from different countries about what sustainability means in practice.

TVET for sustainable development seeks to provide a new image and direction for TVET besides from it being just a “mere supplier” of skilled labor to industry. In order to reconcile these two concepts, Majumdar (2010) suggests the need to reorient the TVET curriculum towards the “6R” principles of Reuse, Reduce, Renew, Recycle, Repair and Rethink in order to say that TVET education is heading towards sustainability. Moreover, its three pillars are based on these three concepts: (1) a change of the “business as usual” approach to “sustainable development approach” through the wise and practical usage of resources, (2) economic sustainability which requires a different and wider set of economically-related knowledge, skills and

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attitude for production, management and consumption of goods and services, and (3) social sustainability, which involves ensuring that the basic needs of people regardless of classification are satisfied.

Green Jobs Green jobs, as defined by the International Labor Organization (2011) refer to employment in any industry that contributes to preserving or restoring environmental quality in that sector and allowing sustainable development. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high efficiency strategies; decarbonize the economy; and minimize (or altogether avoid) generation of all forms of waste and pollution.

Green jobs encourage the following activities: (1) the adaptation and mitigation of resources, (2) contribution in preserving environmental quality, (3) promotion in protecting ecosystems and biodiversity, (4) leadership in reducing energy, materials and water consumption, (5) de-carbonization of the economy and encouragement of the reduction of pollution and wastes. On the other hand, green employment practices encourage the use of energy-efficient materials in building materials and maintenance, proper solid waste management, controlled water supply and reduction of CO2 and the use of green technology.

UNESCO (2014), on its part, have made significant strides in merging ESD and TVET in the same arena partly due to its massive information campaign on the relevance of both concepts and its applicability on TVET. As shown in figure 2, UNESCO outlines the possibilities that may arise if ESD is applied on TVET such as the benefits of green jobs, which according to them result in the preservation and restoration of the environment while ensuring a high quality way of life through the assurance of fair wages, safe working conditions and adequate legal rights to the members of the community.

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Figure 1: Rationale of UNESCO (2014) in emphasizing the need for ESD and Green TVET to address the challenges of a changing environment

Figure 3 below illustrates that by combining the best of TVET innovation and development typology, and by creating a balance between the world of work and the world of life, policymakers achieve ESD in TVET. It also illustrates that efforts to spearhead ESD are not only limited in changing limited facets of TVET development but will sometimes require an overhaul of systems, ideas and habits to bring about that balance. It also shows that the skills required to achieve ESD are a product of several

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factors created in the policy level, brought about by extensive research of the needs of the community and society.

Figure 3: World of Life and World of Work Balance Achieved by a Successful ESD policy (UNESCO, 2014).

The different organizations concerned with labor and employment have seen the adoption of green jobs as a sure direction towards addressing the issues brought by the recent challenges of economic development and its imminent halt due to climate change and environmental degradation. Thus, the International Labor Organization (2011) launched the Green Jobs Initiative as a way to promote green jobs as an alternative to address pressing issues like poverty, unemployment and economic disparity. Alongside organizations such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the International Employers Organization (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), this initiative was created as a way to encourage

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government action in the mobilization of stakeholders to come up with effective programs that will lead to the green economy. The program concentrates on these six priorities: (1) analysis of the employment and labor market conditions, (2) practical approaches to greening enterprises, (3) green jobs in waste management and recycling, (4) renewable energy and energy efficiency, (5) a just transition towards a green economy and a sustainable society and (6) adaptation to climate change.

Table 1: Asian Initiatives towards the Adoption of Clean and Green Technology

China

India

Republic of Korea

Nepal

Malaysia

• Production and use of solar technology • Focus on green and new economy • Greening initiatives in all aspects • Transition has already begun in adopting cleaner energy practices • Indian industries are focusing on the corporate environmental impact to avoid pressures of unsound environmental practices, as well as their own policy for corporate social responsibility • Prime Minister Mr. Modi announced to have all electric and clean energy based vehicle available by 2030 • Adopted a national strategy and a five-year plan for green growth • Share of green growth tool kits and experience • Leaderships in international efforts to help build physical infrastructures in developing countries • Community forest management intensified to generate employment and income from sustainable harvesting of forest products • Focus on Hydro Power and Alternative Energy • Sustainable Tourism • Establishing green economy through the adoption of low carbon emissions use, and a well-educated populace with the aim of attaining the status, i.e. a manufacturing hub in the region

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Some critics argue that the emissions trading scheme is not a radical solution to an increasing climate change problem since it requires nothing less than the “reorganization of the society and technology that will leave most of the remaining fossil fuels underground”. Weak points such as “perverse incentives” or incentives that will actually cause the reverse of what is targeted to be achieved are also included in the criticisms.

The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, also known as the APP, was formed by Australia, Canada, India, Japan, China, South Korea and the United States on July 28, 2005. The basis of this formation was through a shared vision of “advancing clean development and climate objectives” through the building of existing bilateral and multilateral initiatives to increase cooperation in terms of meeting the needs and challenges associated with growing energy demands in accordance with national objectives.

This partnership brings an alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, which imposes mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. This partnership encourages member countries to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies promoting clean and green procurement of energy without mandatory enforcements. Although supporters have hailed the partnership as “overcoming the impasse between developed and developing countries”, environmentalists criticized it as a mere “public relations ploy” (Rustin, 2011). This is due to the non-imposition of mandatory targets and incentives as presented in the Kyoto protocol. The criticism was again highlighted on the fact that none of the signatories have lowered greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite these, proponents have lauded a record of promoting collaboration with the governments and private sector in key collaborative projects on developing key energy sectors and activities.

Green Skills The Green Skills Agreement (IVET, 2009) defines skills for sustainability as those technical skills, knowledge, values and attitudes needed in the workforce to develop and support sustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes in business, industry and the community.

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Green TVET These are TVET programs that encompass green skills for the students/participants.

There are some TVET programs which are directly related to green technology such as solar PV Technician, alternative energy, organic vegetable farming, solar and electric car technician etc.

Greening TVET Greening TVET is a process to make all initiatives be based on green concepts from pre-program to post-programs such as green policy and plan, green campus, green technology, green community, green research and green culture.

Initiatives towards the Adoption of Greening Concepts in TVET TVET is the key contributor for the education for sustainable development.

Considering its importance, many countries have taken new initiatives in TVET to ensure greening practices. Some of the examples of Germany, China, Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, India and Nepal are presented below.

Germany German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Bundesministerium fĂźr Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, BMZ) has considered that TVET plays a crucial role for education promotion and sustainable development. Considerable expansion of TVET is one of the ten objectives of their education strategy, especially with respect to industries set to become key players in the future, such as renewable energies and natural raw materials. Based on the objectives, they have initiated job profiles and curricula revisions considering high employment opportunities in the context of greening economies focusing on renewable energy and natural products to protect energy and resources, and two approaches are being employed. Firstly, integrating green skills into vocational skills training and existing continuing education. Secondly, providing assistance to partner countries of the BMZ per their need in developing green skills profiles, curricula and technology (GIZ, 2013).

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China As a strong contributor in environmental protection and sustainable development, China has given high priority for greening TVET. The following are the key initiatives undertaken by China (Dayue, 2016): i)

High efforts from the academe through research on green skills. Based on figure 4, there were about hundred research papers on green skills in 1990, but it increased to more than 25,000 in 2014. It shows that China is giving high priority on research and development for green skills and greening economy.

# R e s e a r c h

Year Figure 4: Trends of Academic Research on Green Skills in China ii)

Chinese government is quite keen on greening and has put it into its kernel working agenda for development while providing very strong support for it.

In order to guarantee the greening for overall social and economic development, Chinese congress and government systems have issued series of laws, regulations and principles to regulate and promote the developing process. In addition, China has already set very high aims for greening and sustainable development and promised to the international world that it will

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achieve the results as scheduled while China participates and contributes quite a lot in international cooperation for sustainable development. iii)

There are corresponding training systems to meet the needs for greening training in production sectors. Construction and agriculture, as examples, have their own production criteria for greening and sustainable development, which are of the key contents in the training systems. The greening and sustainable promotion is in rapid developing route nowadays.

iv)

In education sector, teachers and students already have varying degrees of awareness in greening. They have recognized the impact of green education for students’ overall development, including interpersonal and intrapersonal competence, their employability, skills for protecting environment, their awareness of life-long learning and low-carbon transmission. Some teachers are actively studying the greening concepts and international movements, and are trying to embed greening contents in their instructions.

v)

Investments in renewable energy more than any other country

vi)

Creation of a National Policy that sees clean and green as a major market in the future

Australia Australian government has brought in Green Skills Agreement (GSA). The main focus of the GSA is to ensure education for sustainable development. According to the Training and Further Education (TAFE) Directors Australia (TDA, 2012), “The Green Skills Agreement was developed to allow the federal and state governments to provide a structured approach to the growth of green skills in response to industry and community needs. However, the onus ultimately sits with Registered Training Organizations (RTOs) including TAFE Institutes to make choices on the offerings of green skills training (qualifications, skill sets and short courses).�

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Based on the GSA, TDA has been working on following three areas to ensure greening skills program for sustainable development (TDA, 2012): i) Green Culture and Campus Most of the TVET institutes have maintained green culture and campus with ample footprint of environmental protection initiatives. Most of them have sustainability plans, strategies and policies. There are adequate government laws to maintain green culture and campus. ii) Curricula Green skills are incorporated in all TVET curricula and competency standards.

Similarly, TDA has given high priority to implement green TVET programs for sustainability. There are also professional development programs for teachers on green skills. iii) Community (Partnerships, workplace delivery) Most of the TAFE Institutes and Technical Universities have developed partnership with communities and industries to implement sustainable education practices in the workplace.

Philippines The government of the Philippines has given high priority on sustainable TVET. The following are the key initiatives undertaken by the Philippines: i) Green Jobs Act (2016) ii) Greening TVET Strategy 2018 iii) All TVET Institutes have developed strategic plan incorporating greening TVET as a key strategy to achieve sustainable TVET objective.

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Malaysia The government of Malaysia has taken many initiatives to strengthen its sustainable education system. Some of the key initiatives are as follows (Jamaludin, Alias, and DeWitt, 2018): i)

Developed Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013- 2025) and implementation of all education programs based on this framework. Out of the 12 dimensions of the blueprint, ten dimensions are related to TVET and the first four dimensions are directly related to sustainable education.

ii)

Government issues different laws and regulations related to greening TVET and environment sector.

iii)

High priority on green jobs and technology

iv)

Industry-based curriculum and at least one industry’s simulation workshop/Lab per TVET institute to ensure sustainable and appropriate skills and technology, in which industries are looking for.

India The government of India has been initiating the Greening TVET system for sustainable development. The following are the key initiatives: i)

Developed laws for sustainable development and education

ii)

Incorporated green skills in TVET curricula

iii)

Focused on teacher development and facilities improvement with green technology

iv)

Enhanced partnership between industry and TVET institutions for the technology upgrade and practical opportunities

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Nepal The government of Nepal has initiated some efforts to provide sustainable education for sustainable development. The following are the key initiatives: i)

Fully-committed to work on SDGs

ii)

Developed environment-related laws

iii)

CTEVT has implemented green skills programs, such as Solar PV Technician, Hydro Power Technician, Community Agriculture Assistant, Off Season Vegetable Farming, Herbal Farming and Processing

iv)

Orientation campaign initiated since 2015 on Greening TVET Transforming TVET to a More Sustainable Direction

Majumdar (2010) identified that TVET is directly attributable to the policy shifts towards sustainable development since it plays a major role in the development of the workforce for the creation, re-creation and transformation of resources. This forges the role of TVET in upholding the recommendations of the United Nations in terms of developing a green economy as a future direction.

The examples shown on the previous section show that that governments and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region are taking massive steps in achieving a green economy through stronger ties and wider understanding on its scope and strategies.

However, TVET has to have a major involvement in this initiative, being a major supplier of skills and training initiatives to the emerging workforce.

The International Forum on Vocational-Technical Education held on November 17-19, 2008 at Hangzhou, China recognized the “paramount necessity� of TVET improvement and has called several measures to make TVET a catalyst to transform the vast potential of human resources in the region. It has forwarded the following recommendations in lieu with this call:

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1. TVET should encourage and implement political will and commitment of national governments so it can assume a unique and key role in ensuring the provision of education 2. The image, values and attitude towards TVET must be continually enhanced 3. Reform TVET based on the recommendations from the UN Millennium Development Goals and Education for Sustainable Development Concepts 4. TVET should strive to provide lifelong learning and a lifetime upgrade of knowledge in the age of rapid technological advancement 5. Closer international partnership and linkages between TVET and the industry must be pursued, as well as the public-private cooperation and initiatives.

6. Competency-based TVET should be emphasized as a clear need to develop individual learning, relevance and efficient use of resources.

7. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship training must be promoted to facilitate the development of knowledge 8. Networking between TVET institutions and other countries across the region should be greatly encouraged to facilitate institutional development 9. The assistance of organizations such as the UNESCO-UNEVOC will play a key role in providing the needs for TVET reform and expansion.

Although this is one of the important regional responses to make TVET practices sustainable, there is still a need to reinvent it towards the greener direction. Thus, the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC), an inter-regional organization for human resource development in the Asia-Pacific region, has continuously spearheaded ways to serve as a model of greening TVET through the launch of the “Green CPSC Program�. The college aims to serve as a model towards the green campus approach based from the five pillars of greening TVET.

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Figure 5: The Five Pillars of Greening TVET In connection to this initiative, a conference on the TVET education for sustainable development was held in Manila on November 2-3, 2010 organized by CPSC and its international partners IVETA and InWENt from Germany. This initiative has recognized the need for TVET to pursue an environmentally sound direction through the inclusion of economic, cultural and social considerations to drive a more sustainable human resource path in its contribution to the green economy. In conclusion, the delegates representing 39 countries across the world, called to implement the following green TVET practices through the following recommendations: 1. Recommend to integrate ESD in TVET as high in the international agenda 2. Develop policies and strategies to integrate ESD in TVET system 3. Mobilize a green TVET Framework to support socio-economic aspects in sustainable development 4. Promote capacity building to integrate ESD in TVET systems

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5. Re-orient TVET curriculum and teacher education to integrate ESD at all levels of education 6. Increase public awareness through seminars, conferences and workshops to promote ESD as an advocacy 7. Strengthen networking and linkages to enhance multi-stakeholder partnership for evolving green TVET 8. Promote evidence-based research, monitoring and evaluation strategies for ESD in TVET 9. Develop clean and green technology programs to address the needs of the green economy 10. Prioritize capacity building of trainers to increase investments in education for the youth in creating a strong foundation of society for sustainable development.

Challenges to Transform TVET for a Greener Economy In spite of the relevance of TVET in forwarding the cause of sustainable development, it still remains locked up to the role of being a mere supplier of skilled labor to industry and is thereby unable to respond effectively to the needs of the sustainable development strategies (Majumdar, 2010). Thus, the challenges emerge centering on how professionals should transform TVET towards green economy while maintaining the principles of 6R: Reduce, Reuse, Renew, Recycle, Repair and Rethink.

A study (GIZ, 2013) stated the key findings related to green economy and TVET, as follows: 1. TVET has not been integrated into National sustainability strategies and programs; environmental and vocational training policies are often not harmonized.

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2. There is no common understanding of the terms green jobs or environmental professions.

3. Improving existing vocational skills training is more important than developing green jobs and green TVET separately.

4. Reliable data collection with respect to green skills need a considerable global challenge.

5. A shortage of skilled labour impedes the transition to a green economy.

6. Competencies in the field of mathematics, information technology, natural sciences, and technology are preconditions for green economic growth.

As the modern world evolves and adapts to the constant changes in lifestyle and perspectives, TVET is reinforced with the urgent need to invent and re-invent ways in infusing the concepts of green economy for sustainable development into the curriculum or diffusing Green Economy (GE) principles from specific technical subject domains. As per McKeown, et al (2002) some of the challenges and barriers to Sustainable Development (SD) are:  Increasing awareness: Green Economy is Essential  Structuring and Placing SD in the TVET Curriculum  Facing the Complexity of Sustainable Development Concept  Developing International and Regional Cooperation and Networking on SD  Engaging Traditional Disciplines in a Trans-Disciplinary Framework  Building Teacher Educator’s Capacity  Developing Instructional Materials and Resources  Developing TVET Policy

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 Developing a Creative, Innovative and Risk-taking Climate in the TVET Institution  Promoting Sustainability in Popular culture in TVET Schools In the recent Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) mid review, it was observed that there is a necessity to give special prominence on a) Structuring and Placing SD in the TVET Curriculum b) Building Teacher Educator’s Capacity and c) Developing Instructional Materials and Resources.

Conclusions and Recommendations Each and every country is committed to SDGs achievement. Sustainable education, most especially TVET is the key change agent for sustainable development through producing workforce with green skills for green jobs. There are many efforts and strategies to make sustainable TVET, but majority of the TVET programs are running along traditional approach without greening concepts and failing to address industries’ needs.

Thus, transforming TVET to a more sustainable option encourages the transformation of “brown jobs” to “green jobs” while increasing awareness and promoting technological advancements. Being the proponent of skills development, TVET should adopt the greening concept for the creation of green skilled workforce to fuel the new economy. So far, considerable efforts have been done especially in the Asia-Pacific region. This translates to major and bigger responsibilities to the TVET implementing bodies, policymakers and funding organizations to sustain, if not exceed, the expectations towards the adoption of the green economy.

All policymakers, implementers and employers should focus on supportive laws for sustainable education and employment, operation of greening TVET concept (five pillars), and introduction of green technology and partnership with TVET institutes respectively. TVET providers need to work closely with all stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved in the green and clean economic development ecosystem.

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Asia-Pacific Partnership on Green Development and Climate. Retrieved from http://www.asiapacificpartnership.org/english/about.aspx.

Dayue, F. (2016). A survey report on greening in higher TVET in China. TVET@Asia, 6, 1-18. Retrieved from http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue6/dayue_tvet6.pdf GIZ. (2013). TVET for green economy. Retrieved from https://www.enterprisedevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/TVET_Green_Economy.pdf International Labor Organization (2011). Green jobs. Retrieved on June 14, 2017 from http://www.ilo.org/asia/whatwedo/projects/WCMS_146311/lang--es/index.htm.

Jamaludin, K. A., Alias, N., & DeWitt, D. (Nov 1, 2018). Sustainability for Malaysian TVET. Journal of Sustainable Development Education and Research, 2(1), 47-50.

Majumdar, S. (2010). Greening TVET: Connecting the dots in TVET for sustainable development. Paper presented at the 2010 Symposium of ESD in TVET, Manila, Philippines.

McKeown, R., Hopkins, C. A., Rizi, R., & Chrystalbridge, M. (2002). Education for sustainable development toolkit. Knoxville, TN: Energy, Environment and Resources Center, University of Tennessee.

TDA. (2012). The Australian green skills agreement: Policy and industry context, institutional response and green skills delivery. Retrieved from http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/3201/1/The%20Australian%20Green%2 0Skills%20Agreement.pdf United Nations. (2015). Sustainable development goals. Retrieved on June 14, 2017 from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ UNESCO. (2014). ESD + TVET: Promoting skills for sustainable development. Retrieved on June 14, 2017 from www.unesco.org/education.

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Article 03 Integrating the World of Work Into Initial TVET Teacher Education in South Africa1 Andre van der Bijl1 and Vanessa Taylor2 1 Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa 2 Swiss South African Cooperation Initiative, South Africa Abstract In 2013, the South African Minister of Higher Education and Training promulgated the Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training. This policy provides a framework of professional qualifications for lecturers in the TVET system. The initial professional qualifications in the policy require work integrated learning placements in both education and industry settings. South Africa, however, does not have a convention of industry placement for vocational lecturers.

This absence led the Department of Higher Education and Training, with the European Union, to co-fund a research and development project, the ‘effective delivery of the work-integrated learning (WIL) component of TVET and ACET Lecturer qualification programmes’. The project, commonly called the industry based WIL for lecturers project by its participants, was intended as an inter-university research and capacity building project aimed at developing knowledge, competency and resources to support the implementation of the industry WIL component of the TVET lecturer qualifications by education faculties, the intended providers of these.

International literature shows that industry placement significantly improves student learning. However, the literature on vocational teacher professional development indicates that the nature and reason for teacher placements differs from that of student placement. While students complete industry placements to prepare them to work in their field of study on graduation, industry placement for educators has the 1

This publication has been developed through the Teaching and Learning Development Capacity Improvement Programme which is being implemented through a partnership between the Department of Higher Education and Training and the European Union

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aim of enhancing their industry knowledge and skills to enable them to be better teachers. Views emanating from the international literature are supported by the limited experience of industry placement of practicing TVET college lecturers in South Africa. The inclusion of industry placement in initial TVET teacher education is, however, not a common practice internationally, which the industry based WIL for lecturers Development Project sought to address.

The key output of this project was the development of a comprehensive curriculum framework for the industry-WIL component of the qualifications. This paper provides a reflective analysis of the multiple institution, national process through which the curriculum framework was developed and of the knowledge generate through it.

Keywords: TVET; Industry based WIL for lecturers; Teacher industry placements; Industry placements Introduction The Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (South Africa, 2013) was promulgated by the South African Minister of Higher Education and Training in 2013. This policy builds on the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (South Africa, 2011), the policy framework for school teachers, and provides a framework of professional qualifications for lecturers in the country’s TVET system. The initial qualifications included in the policy framework require TVET lecturers to complete work placements in both education and industry settings.

While South Africa has a well-developed history of teacher education policy and work placement in schools, it does not have a convention of vocational teacher education policy, or of industry placements for vocational teachers. This absence led the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), with the European Union, to co-fund the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) for Lecturers Development Project, an inter-university research and capacity building project aimed at developing knowledge, competency and resources to support the implementation of the industry WIL

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component of the TVET lecturer qualifications by education faculties, the intended providers of these.

International literature shows that industry placement significantly improves student learning. However, the literature on vocational teacher professional development indicates that the nature and reason for teacher placements differs from that of student placement. While students complete industry placements to prepare them to work in their field of study on graduation, industry placement for educators has the aim of enhancing their industry knowledge and skills to enable them to be better teachers (Van der Bijl & Taylor, 2016:103). The literature points to the following specific benefits of industry placements for educators (Ireland, et al, 2002: 3):     

Development of technical knowledge and practical industry experience.

Increased confidence and motivation.

Development of industry-relevant learning materials and resources.

Building industry links.

Improved teaching.

The findings and views emanating from the international literature are supported by the limited experience of industry placement of practicing TVET college lecturers in South Africa (Smith, 2017). The inclusion of industry placement in initial TVET teacher education is, however, not a common practice internationally (Van der Bijl & Taylor, 2018:129), which the DHET industry based a research and development project on the effective delivery of the work-integrated learning (WIL) component of TVET and ACET Lecturer qualification programmes WIL for lecturers sought to address.

The key output of this project was the development of a comprehensive curriculum framework for the industry-WIL component of the qualifications. This paper provides a reflective analysis of the multiple institution, national process through which the curriculum framework was developed and of the knowledge generate through it.

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Background As the name suggests, South Africa is the southernmost state on the African continent.

The country houses one of the strongest economies in Africa. Its climatic range has resulted in it being suitable for a wide range of agricultural products, which served as a catalyst for colonisation and settlement, first by the Dutch and later by the British Empire. A combination of the country’s climate and the colonising powers disregard for the local population resulted in the massive influx of European settlers and slaves, primarily from the East. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the country’s economy was radically transformed with the discovery of minerals, first diamonds, but later gold and a range of other minerals required by the twentieth century world economy.

Cape Town was established when the Dutch East India Company established a trading station in 1652. Within a decade, the trading station grew into a colonial settlement that steadily expanded. The British Empire seized the Cape Colony in the first decade of the nineteenth century, as well as other key points, like the port of Natal on the south eastern coast. The country was established as a political unit in 1910 and gained its independence from the British Empire in 1961. The colonial power was replaced by a government based entirely on, and limited to, the naturalised descendants of European settlers, following the notorious apartheid ideology. After an extended period of social unrest, the first non-racial national democratic election was held in 1994. This was followed by radical social transformation, which included changes to the country’s system of education and training.

The colonial and apartheid systems that had been created, which included a disparate and differentiated collection of forms of education and training based primarily on race, necessitated social transformation. Different education and training institutions had been created for the different race groups specified by apartheid legislation.

Furthermore, apartheid legislation had, until the late 1970s, restricted most forms of skilled labour to whites, effectively barring the majority of the country from skilled and professional forms of work. The result was the development of a dual economy, a largely urban first world economy, populated mainly by a continually growing

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white/European population, and a largely rural and semi-rural third world economy into which the majority of the county’s population was forced.

Vocational education in South Africa was established in the 1890s through the night schools of recently established universities. However, it developed as a form of education for the poor, or indigent, and ‘less able’ (Gamble, 2003 in Van der Bijl & Lawrence, 2016: 343), offered primarily through its system of technical colleges. Post1994 social transformation included the merging of technical colleges into multicampus further education and training colleges (FET), the revision of existing curricula and the establishment of a new national certificate (vocational) equated to a standard school leaving certificate (South Africa, 2006). It also included the development of a professional qualification system for college lecturers (South Africa, 2008) separate from that of school teachers. Subsequently FET colleges underwent a name change to technical and vocational education and training (TVET), with the aim of strengthening and expanding them into ‘attractive institutions of choice for school leavers’ (South Africa,2014:xii).

The 2008 draft policy framework for TVET lecturer qualifications was finalised and promulgated in 2013 as the Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (South Africa, 2013). This policy provides a framework of professional qualifications for lecturers in the TVET system that is distinct from those for school teachers (South Africa, 2011) and community education and training college educators and lecturers, for whom a separate qualifications policy, the Policy on Minimum Requirements for Programmes Leading to Qualifications for Educators and Lecturers in Adult and Community Education and Training, was promulgated in 2015 (South Africa, 2015).

The TVET lecturer policy framework includes the following professional qualifications: 

Bachelor of Education in Technical and Vocational Teaching, an initial qualification for school leavers who wish to pursue a career as college lecturers.

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 

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Advanced Diploma in Technical and Vocational Teaching, an initial qualification for university and college graduates who wish to pursue a career as college lecturers.

Diploma in Technical and Vocational Teaching, an initial qualification for practicing un- and under qualified lecturers.

Advanced Diploma in Technical and Vocational Education and Training, a further professional development qualification for educators from other sectors who want to enter TVET teaching.

Bachelor of Education (Honours), Post Graduate Diploma, Master of Education and Doctor of Education in Technical and Vocational Education and Training.

These are largely research-based post graduate qualifications for TVET lecturers.

The Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (South Africa, 2013) requires that all initial professional qualifications include work placements in both education and industry settings. This differs from the policy framework from which it emanates, the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (South Africa, 2011). This policy, like its predecessor policies, requires that qualifications for teachers include work placement, but this is only required in one setting, school classrooms, a practice commonly called teaching practice.

Despite the new requirement for vocational lecturers to complete work placements in industry settings, South Africa does not have a convention to support such placements.

TVET lecturers have commonly been sourced from industry or on graduation and, as a result, a significant number of those employed in TVET colleges do not have a professional teaching qualification, a qualification related to their field of expertise or industry experience. This is so even though professionally qualified TVET lecturers are expected to have expertise in ‘at least three domains, namely academic or subject matter knowledge, pedagogy, and workplace qualifications and experience’ (Van der Bijl & Oosthuizen, 2019:206).

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The DHET industry based WIL for lecturers development project was established by the DHET to promote knowledge development in the area of vocational lecturer industry placement and build the capacity of university education faculties to implement this component of the new qualifications. The project was managed by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and jointly implemented by CPUT and the Swiss South African Cooperation Initiative (SSACI).

CPUT has a long tradition of teacher education and before the promulgation of the Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (South Africa, 2013), offered TVET college lecturer training programmes within the framework included in Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (South Africa, 2011). SSACI, a South African non-profit organisation that was established in 2001 to support skills development and youth employment, began working with TVET colleges on lecturer placement in industry in 2009. Its early work in this area evolved into the SSACI-Education, Training and Development (ETDP) Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) WIL for lecturers project, which was funded by the ETDP SETA and implemented by SSACI between 2014 and 2017. Over the course of this project, more than 400 lecturers from 28 TVET colleges completed SSACI’s WIL for Lecturers Programme, which required their completion of an industry placement and submission of a portfolio of evidence.

In 2014, CPUT and SSACI began working together to research TVET lecturer industry placement and publish SSACI’s experience in this area. This collaboration resulted in the publishing of an exploratory peer reviewed article (Van der Bijl & Taylor, 2016), which included a review of international literature and an analysis of TVET lecturer placement activities facilitated by SSACI. This publication launched CPUT and SSACI’s collaboration as implementing partners of the DHET WIL for Lecturers Development Project and, along with the materials developed by SSACI to support TVET lecturer learning during industry placements, provided the starting point for the curriculum framework developed. In 2015 CPUT was awarded a research chair by the ETDP SETA for research into WIL and RPL (recognition of prior learning) in the TVET sector.

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The curriculum framework was developed through an evolutionary process that involved a series of analyses of literature and focus groups attended by curriculum specialists from education schools and faculties assigned to produce the required qualifications. The process followed and the methodology underlying it is discussed in the next section.

Methodological and Conceptual Considerations The project that formed the basis of, and is reported on in this paper, applied an exploratory and developmental approach. This approach was necessary, given that when it started, the primary researchers, CPUT and SSACI, were still exploring the literature and most universities had not finalised decisions on whether or not to offer the new TVET qualifications. Those who had, had assigned middle level curriculum specialists, some close to retirement, to the project, and were in the process of appointing new staff to the posts. As academics were employed into posts related to TVET programmes, they were invited to participate in the project focus groups.

An action research methodology that used a snowball sampling mechanism was applied to the project (Saunders et al., 2009: 240). Action research, McNiff (2002) argues, is a ‘practical way of looking at your work’ and reflecting on it. Creswell (2014) associates action research with ‘qualitative design’ and locates it within research methods that have a transformative worldview and ‘may change the lives of the participants, the institution in which individuals work or live, and the researcher’s life’. As a research design, action research is a form of research that focuses on change. It is an active research process that includes data collection and analysis, or, as Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009, 147-148) note, a spiral that involves determining context and purpose, diagnosis, planning, taking action and evaluation, which, in turn, leads to further diagnosis. Action research, according to Saunders et al. (2009:258-259), is useful when analysing a variety of secondary data.

An action research design was appropriate, for both the project and this paper. The project aimed to produce contextual knowledge and materials that at the time did not exist, but which were needed as a national competency. When the project commenced in September 2017, two organisations, CPUT and SSACI, had a working

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knowledge of the topic, which as noted above, was conceptualised into a collaboratively produced peer reviewed article, namely Van der Bijl and Taylor (2016).

When the project concludes at the end of 2019, it will have produced documentation for the implementation industry based WIL as a component of professional qualifications for educators and lecturers in two education sectors, namely TVET and community education and training. The project has included inputs from a volume of international literature, and more than fifty curriculum experts from twenty two institutions, including universities, TVET colleges and community education and training colleges, through five national level focus group exercises. To date, the project has also supported a number of related research projects, resulting in numerous articles in peer reviewed journals and the presentation of conference papers. The project was clearly an agent of change and development. As a reflection of the project this paper is also an action research process.

Snowball sampling was the only viable mechanism for the project as it enabled the inclusion of different participants in the focus group once universities had finalised their programme plans and staff compositions. According to Saunders et al. (2009), snowball sampling, ’is commonly used when it is difficult to identify members of the desired population’ (2009:240), which was a challenge the project faced. Snowball sampling usually involves making contact with participants, identifying the existence of more participants, making contact with them, and again, identifying the existence of more potential participants. This was the process followed by the project.

Knowledge Production The knowledge produced the through the DHET industry based WIL for lecturers development project was published in a comprehensive curriculum framework (Van der Bijl & Taylor, 2019), an open source document that could be used by providers of TVET teacher education for industry placements.

The initial plan was to develop outcomes, assessment criteria and learning materials for each of the legislated programmes, through a series of research-led focus group exercises. The plan was also to provide participant universities with a collection of publications that could be used in other subject areas of their programmes related to

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theorising and conceptualising WIL within the context of TVET teacher education.

From the exercise’s inception, however, a statement later made in Van der Bijl and Taylor (2018:126) was realised: at that time, while ‘the country’s education faculties have a strongly developed practice of school-based WIL, none currently offers a formal programme that includes WIL in industry’. It was therefore decided to develop what became known as a comprehensive curriculum framework (Van der Bijl & Taylor, 2019), to provide participants and related researchers lacking knowledge of industrybased WIL for TVET educators with:      

A summary of policy requirements for industry based WIL in the initial professional qualifications for TVET lecturers.

A summary and analysis of international literature on industry-based WIL for vocational educators.

A list of outcomes and assessment criteria for the industry WIL component for the initial qualifications in the policy.

Student industry WIL activities to complete for each qualification.

Guidelines for implementing industry WIL within the qualifications.

Student industry WIL materials to direct and record their learning.

Research underlying the curriculum framework’s development process, as a whole, was conducted by the focus group presenters, CPUT and SSACI, as was post focus group action, further development of the curriculum framework and additional research. Each focus group included sessions that involved the physical development of the curriculum framework, research and capacity building. The latter two elements were aimed at sharing new developments with participants, and providing new participants with knowledge required to bring them to the same level as those who had been involved from the beginning.

Focus group activity was complicated throughout the development process by the inclusion of new entrants, some of whom were from universities that joined the project after inception, others who were new employees of the universities already participating that were specifically employed to implement TVET programmes and, as a result, became involved in the project. The focus group activities were further

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complicated by the inclusion of qualifications for adult and community education and training (ACET). While the Policy on Minimum Requirements for Programmes Leading to Qualifications for Educators and Lecturers in Adult and Community Education and Training (South Africa, 2015) was largely based on the TVET policy framework, it was aimed at a new type education developed to largely service rural and disadvantaged communities. Furthermore, the philosophy underpinning the form of adult and community education that has evolved in South Africa was not compatible with that of TVET. As a result, two different industry/workplace-based WIL frameworks were developed, one for TVET lecturers and one for ACET educators and lecturers.

Each focus group exercise had specific development aims. At the first focus group, held in October 2017, project aims were shared with participants. Much of the time was allocated to briefing participants on policy requirements for industry WIL for TVET lecturers and the nature of this in the international literature and from SSACI’s experience implementing this in TVET colleges. Participants were expected to identify the implications of the new policy for the programmes they were registering, as well as the implications of the contents of literature and findings from SSACI’s WIL for lecturers exercises. From this focus group, the first draft of the curriculum framework was produced. This draft was limited to providing an overall structure for the document as a whole, as well as content on policy, a review of literature and an initial layout of outcomes for each potential programme.

At the second focus group exercise, held in November 2017, feedback on the initial draft curriculum was received, and potential activities expected of student lecturers when placed in business, were considered. Additional research requirements were addressed, as some participants had identified issues that required further specific consideration. On the basis of inputs received, the literature review was reconstructed, as was the section on outcomes and assessment criteria. This focus group was attended by ACET specialists in addition to the TVET specialists who had attended the previous focus group. This resulted in an expansion of the curriculum framework to include the ACET qualifications, a decision that was later reversed. At the second focus group specific research projects were determined, as well as a

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development process, involving a writing retreat, and a track at South Africa’s annual WIL conference.

The third focus group was held in March 2018 and was devoted to the finalisation of materials to be completed by students when placed in business. Sections related to literature and outcomes were also adapted. During this focus group, the incompatibility of TVET and ACET programmes came to the fore, resulting in a decision to devote the following focus group exercise in June 2018 to the ACET qualifications and to finalise the TVET framework at a subsequent focus group exercise.

The subsequent TVET focus group was held in September 2018. At this focus group a revised comprehensive framework was submitted for discussion. It included a reworked version of the first three sections, draft implementation guideline and revised student materials.

Minor changes were made following this version. The final version of the curriculum framework was then presented and approved at a DHET national reference group exercise, held in March 2019.

Throughout the process the action research cycle of providing context and purpose, followed by diagnosis, planning, taking action and evaluation, was applied.

Knowledge Generated Uniqueness of and Theoretical Frameworks for Industry Based WIL for TVET Lecturers From the analysis of international literature and SSACI’s experience placing TVET college lecturers in industry, which is discussed in more detail in Van der Bijl and Taylor (2016 and 2018), it is clear that industry based WIL for TVET educators differs from WIL for vocational students and for school teachers. WIL for vocational students is aimed at exposing students to careers related to their studies. WIL for teachers, commonly known in South Africa as teaching practice, prepares trainee school

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teachers for a career in schooling. Industry based WIL for TVET educators involves reflection on work experiences for inclusion in and teaching of a vocational curriculum.

Three theoretical frameworks provided the basis for understanding the nature of TVET lecturer industry placement and the transfer of learning from a workplace to classroom context.

The work of Schüller and Bergami (2008:201; 2011: 136–137) provides an explanation of the process and key characteristics of industry placement of vocational educators.

These authors developed a theoretical model for understanding teacher industry placement (TIP) primarily within the context of vocational education in Australia. Their cyclical/linear TIP model is based on Lave and Wenger’s (1991) Community of Practice (CoP) model. According Schüller and Bergami, WIL for vocational educators involves the development of theory from an industry placement and experience, followed by classroom teaching and, ultimately, putting theory back into practice (Schüller and Bergami, 2011:136–137).

The second theoretical framework was based on Engeström’s (1987) activity theory model, which also has its origins in the work of Lave and Wenger and includes many versions. Activity theory is useful for understanding how vocational educators learn in one activity system (business) and transfer this learning to another activity system (education). The concept of boundary crossing in activity theory, according to Van der Bijl and Taylor (2016:191), provides a way to understand this complex process.

Shulman and Shulman’s (2004) model for teacher learning, which is also based on the CoP model, provided the third theoretical framework for understand industry based WIL for TVET lecturers. This model is based on a conceptual framework that understands educator learning and development as taking place at three levels of practice, individual, community and policy (Shulman & Shulman 2004: 268). All three levels are necessary for educator learning to occur and for their practice to change (Shulman & Shulman 2004: 269). Applying the Shulman & Shulman model to TVET lecturer industry WIL, Van der Bijl and Taylor (2018:131) note that, ‘The articulation between industry-based learning and its implementation in practice...occurs not only

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between communities, but also at the level of individual learning‌, and at the level of policy implementation and resource allocation’.

Programme Differences From the focus group exercises the specific nature, characteristics and requirements of the situation facing trainee TVET lecturers in South Africa were determined. The novelty of including industry based WIL in initial vocational lecturer education became apparent. While professional development placements (PDP) were introduced in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and the teacher industry placement (TIP) scheme in Australia in the last decade, these and other forms of vocational teacher industry placements were primarily continuing professional development exercises, not exercises for initial vocational teacher education. Furthermore, while the Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (South Africa, 2013) indicated time to be spent in industry and credit values to be allocated, it did not include outcomes or learning content. These were developed at the focus groups.

An analysis of the policy provided a distinction between the Advanced Diploma in Technical and Vocational Teaching, on the one hand, and the Diploma and Bachelor of Education in Technical and Vocational Teaching, on the other. The Advanced Diploma is a one year programme for graduates who have completed a qualification appropriate for teaching at TVET colleges. Common qualifications include engineering degrees and diplomas in tourism or hospitality studies. The Advanced Diploma is limited to providing pedagogical training to subject specialists. As a result, the policy envisaged that industry WIL in this qualification would consist of a short placement to update industry knowledge and skills and reorient this to teaching practice.

The Diploma and Bachelor of Education, in contrast to the Advanced Diploma, are three and four year qualifications respectively, that include education in both the subject specialisations and related education competencies. Industry based WIL, therefore, needs to include the initial development of industry specialisation skills and related teaching skills.

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A key issue in the development of the curriculum framework was how much time trainee lecturers would need to spend in a workplace to develop a level of skills and experience that would be adequate to teach their subject specialisations (Van der Bijl & Taylor, 2019:23-24). This was an issue for all three initial qualifications. In terms of the Diploma and Bachelor of Education, there was a strong view that lecturers teaching practical engineering subjects would need more time in the workplace than was included in the policy. The concern in relation to the Advanced Diploma was that, while policy assumes that candidates will enter the programme with a suitable level practical skills and industry experience in their subject specialisation, based on the profile of lecturers currently employed in TVET colleges, this will not necessarily be the case (Van der Bijl & Oosthuizen, 2019).

Regional, Industry and Community Differences The South African economy is diverse, with, on the one hand, first world urban centres, and poor rural and peri-urban communities, on the other. The country’s size and geographical diversity, furthermore, has resulted in the existence of a very wide range of industry types. Servicing diverse industrial needs is a major challenge for both TVET colleges and vocational teacher education providers, who are spread across the country and service both rural and urban areas.

Another challenge in providing the industry WIL component of the qualifications is that the learning and experience lecturers obtain in the workplace will not be uniform due to the large variety of types of businesses across the country that could serve as hosts in each vocational field. The design and assessment of the WIL programme for each qualification thus needed to be able to accommodate this variation.

University Structure, Culture and Approach Universities are independent public entities, each servicing a local or regional community and operating within a structure and approach that has developed over time. In addition, not all universities have a history of working with local business and hence relationships to draw on. In fact, Badat (2009) argues that some universities see industry and the demand for university-industry involvement to be detrimental to

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higher education and in direct contradiction to the historical purpose of universities.

As a result, different universities have different sets of specialisations that are not necessarily compatible with aligning studies with industry requirements.

Conclusion The policy framework for TVET lecturer professional qualifications includes industry based WIL in the initial qualifications. This paper reported on an inter university action research project that developed knowledge in this area and a comprehensive curriculum framework to support university education faculties implement this component of the qualifications.

When the project started, knowledge and research on industry based WIL in South African university education faculties was limited as this had not previously been a competency required of them. Through the project this has changed. Representatives from all universities offering the initial professional qualifications participated in the project focus groups. These developed knowledge and capacity in the area of industry based WIL for TVET lecturers and spearheaded research on this. As an action research project, it was thus an agent of change.

The new qualifications will be offered by universities from 2020. This will provide an opportunity to test the curriculum framework and student materials developed and for further knowledge development on industry based WIL for TVET lecturers in a South African context. The ultimate aims of the policy framework for TVET lecturer professional qualifications is to improve the quality of teaching in TVET colleges and the relevance of curriculum to the economy and needs of college students. It is important that universities conduct studies to determine the impact of the qualifications in this regard and especially the role of industry based WIL in capacitating TVET lecturers to align the curriculum and their teaching to the requirements of work in their vocational field.

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Badat, S. (2009). The role of higher education in society: Valuing higher education.

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Bergami, R., Schüller, A., & Cheok, J. (2009). Building bridges through industry placements: Perceptions from Malaysian academics. Journal of the Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, 1(1), 50–61.

Bergami, R. Schüller, A., & Vojtko, V. (2010). Uniting classroom and industry: Placements for Czech academics. Journal of the Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, 2(1), 107–116.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expansion: An activity theoretical approach to developmental research. Orienta-Knosultit Oy, Helsinki.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.

McNiff, J. (2002). Action research for professional development: Concise advice for new action researchers. http://www.jeanmcniff.com/booklet1.html.

Pather, S. (2012). Activity theory as a lens to examine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching of Mathematics within an intervention programme. African Journal of Research in MST Education, 16(2), 126–140.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for business Students (5th ed.). Harlow: Pearson.

Schüller, A., & Bergami, R. (2008). Expanding the profession – industry placement for teachers. In B. Swaffield & I. Guske (Eds.). Education landscapes in the 21st century: Cross-cultural challenges and multi-disciplinary perspectives. Newcastleupon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Schüller, A., & Bergami, R. (2011). Beyond industry placement: what happens after the VET business teacher returns to work? Journal of the Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, 3(1), 134–144.

Shulman, L. E., & Schulman, J. H. (2004). How and what teachers learn: A shifting paradigm. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(2), 257-271.

Smith, J. (2017). SSACI-ETDP SETA WIL for lecturers in public colleges. Final summative evaluation. Johannesburg: JS & Associates.

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South Africa. (2006). Department of Education: Government Gazette vol. 489(28677).

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South Africa. (2008). Draft national policy framework for lecturer qualifications and development in FET Colleges in South Africa. Pretoria: Government Printer.

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South Africa. (2013). Policy on professional qualifications for lecturers in technical and vocational education and training. Pretoria: Government Printer.

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South Africa. (2015). Policy on minimum requirements for programmes leading to qualifications for educators and lecturers in adult and community education and training. Pretoria: Government Printer.

Tuomi-Gröhn, E., & Engeström, Y. (2007). Between school and work: New Perspectives on transfer and boundary–crossing. Emerald, Bingley.

Van der Bijl, A., & Lawrence, M. (2016). The theory and practice of vocational teaching. In C. Okeke, J. Abongdia, E. Olusola Adu, M. Van Wyk, & C. Wolhuter (Eds.), Learn to teach: A handbook for initial teacher education (pp. 338 – 355). Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

Van der Bjjl, A., & Taylor, V. (2016). Nature and dynamics of industry-based workplace learning for South African TVET lecturers. Industry & Higher Education, 30(2), 98–108.

Van der Bijl, A., & Oosthuizen, L. (2019). Deficiencies in technical and vocational education and training lecturer involvement qualifications and its implications in the development of work related skills. South African Journal of Higher Education, 33(3), 205‒221.

Van der Bijl, A., & Taylor, V. (2018). Work integrated learning for TVET lecturers: Articulating industry and college practices. Journal for Vocational, Adult and Continuing Education and Training, 1(1), 126-145.

Van der Bjjl, A., & Taylor, V. (2019). Curriculum framework for industry/workplace-based work-integrated learning for qualifications for lecturers in technical and vocational education and training. Publication in print.

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Article 04 Documenting the Knowledge Management Practices in a Government-Initiated Vocational Training Project in Nepal: A Case Study on Decentralized Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Project-Additional Financing (2012-2016) Devendra Adhikari Kathmandu University School of Education, Lalitpur, Nepal Abstract The Government of Nepal is providing vocational training activities to the unemployed youths through different projects by taking assistantship of international donor communities. The objectives of the majority of such projects are simply met by fulfilling the quotas of the training participants and calculating their employment status.

However, most of these lack proper knowledge management and disseminating mechanism. This paper has explored the knowledge management perspective in the vocational training projects in Nepal with a based on qualitative research, following the interpretative paradigm through the case study approach by the review of the project documents. It has listed the different activities occurred and the key learning made during the pre-training, implementation and post-training phases of the Decentralized Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Project- Additional Financing, which skilled nearly 3,000 youths in 27 different short-term training trades in 18 rural districts in Nepal from 2012 to 2016. Furthermore, it has argued that every vocational training project should have the knowledge management and disseminating mechanism so that forthcoming similar projects can gain knowledge on ideas, challenges, coping strategies, and innovations in the TVET sector. The present scenario of creating multi-centers by different vocational training projects under the Government of Nepal in terms of identifying the training needs at the community, training implementation, knowledge management and conducting the training effectiveness surveys need immediate reforms. These projects should be accountable and liable towards the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training, which has the authority in developing the vocational training sector in Nepal. The academic review and documentation of

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knowledge gained in the project in every vocational training sector are useful in strengthening the TVET sector in Nepal.

Keywords: Knowledge management, Vocational training, Mobile skill training Context: Project Description The Government of Nepal has been providing short-term vocational training to thousands of youths annually for enhancing their livelihood. In Nepal, skill development has been prioritized to gain people's prosperity (Council for Technical Educational and Vocational Training [CTEVT], 2019). The unemployed youths are interested in receiving the training through the short-term skill training which includes the central training program, mobile-skill training program and apprenticeship-training program (CTEVT, 2017). Moreover, the current periodic plan of the country has also highlighted that number of professional schools and polytechnic institutes should be increased in every federal state of the country for generating the skilled human resources and minimizing the unemployment rate of youths in the country (NPC, 2016).

In this background, in 2012, a road construction cum livelihood improvement project was agreed to conduct between the Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads, under Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, Government of Nepal and Asian Development Bank to reduce rural poverty in 18 districts in very poor and remote hill and mountain regions of Nepal. Swiss Agency for the Development and Cooperation had given technical assistance for the project. The districts were Taplejung, Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Ramechhap, Lamjung, Gorkha, Myagdi, Baglung, Dolpa, Humla, Jajarkot, Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Baitadi, Bajhang, Bajura, and Darchula. It was technically supported by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation. The project was named as Decentralized Rural Infrastructure and Livelihoods Project-Additional Financing (DRILP-AF). The project had focused on increasing the rural incomes uplifting through increased employment, skills aiming, and improved access to credit for the rural poor, capacity building and decentralized governance, including addressing corruption concerns and fostering rural transport connectivity and complementary community infrastructure investments (DRILP-AF,

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2011). The project was quite successful in the rural development of Nepal. Even a local news paper quoted "with the total cost of US$ 66.45 million which include ADB loan of US$ 18 million and grant US$ 7 million, co-financing with OFID loan of US$ 20 million, SDC US$ 7.06 million and Nepal government of US$13.29 million and beneficiaries US$1.10,the project has achieved more than 100 percent of physical progress" (Spotlight, 2017, para 2).

Apart from the infrastructure development work, the project organized the National Skill Testing Board (NSTB) level one vocational training to the road-affected persons and the people living near the road sections. The project chose skill development strategy as it is considered as a powerful tool to reduce human poverty (Bhatta, 2014). The project named skill-training component as life skill training. The training needs assessment was conducted to identify potential trainees with the application of established eligibility criteria. The project provided livelihood related skills training to 3,000 beneficiaries from the project impact zones, of which at least 40% are women and 60% are from poor and excluded groups.

The training need assessment (TNA) of 3,530 interested persons was conducted from 40-road subproject of 18 project districts. The training implementation programs were divided into four different packages and implemented from January 2015 till December 2016. Training Center Nepal, Sitapaila was selected as the training service provider for packages 01, 02 and 04. National Engineering and Technical Science Academy in Joint venture with Rastriya Pravidik Sikshyala, Surkhet was selected as a training service provider for the package (pkg) 03. Till the final training completion report preparation time (25-Dec-2016), a total of 2833 trainees received the short-term skill training in 27 different trades (pkg. I-609, pkg. II-1056, pkg. III-970, pkg. IV-198). The training trades were automobile mechanics, bakery, bamboo handicraft, assistant beautician, beekeeping, building electrician, community livestock assistant, computer operator, construction carpenter, dental chairside assistant, earthquake-resistant building construction technology, furniture maker, Indian cook, Jr. computer hardware technician, light vehicle driving, bricklayer mason, micro-hydro assistant, mobile phone repairer, motorcycle service mechanics, nursery assistant, off-season vegetable production, plumber, poultry farming, radio/television repairer, small tea shop and hotel management, tailoring and three-phase electrician. Likewise, nearly 16% of

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participants were from Gorkha district. Regarding the outputs of the training activities, 3530 TNA was completed, 2833 project beneficiaries received life skill training in 27 different trades. Out of the achieved 2833, 1523 trainees received tools/kit support.

Similarly, 86.5% trainees in the package I and 81.15% trainees in package II passed NSTB skill. Likewise, 894 trainees were female and 1616 trainees were from DAG households (DRILP-AF, 2016a).

Knowledge Documentation and Dissemination in TVET project The international aid with millions of budget envisaged a utopian target of skilling the unemployed youths of the project zone in 18 districts in Nepal through DRILP-AF project. The training beneficiaries were selected from the road-building groups. For this, the training need assessment was done in the earlier phase. The training program was conducted from January 2015 until December 2016. During project implementation, nearly 3000 youths from 18 different project districts received the vocational training in 27 different NSTB level one trades. This notion was guided by the welfare state model of development which is further elaborated as "A welfare state is a community where state's power is deliberately used to modify the normal play of economic forces so as to obtain a more equal distribution of income for every citizen" (Abraham, n.d as cited in Dahal, 2005, p. 20). Various internal reports were designed and circulated within the project and donors. Despite these, the knowledge management and disseminating mechanism lacked in the project (DRILP-AF, 2011).

During the project period, various training related reports were prepared and circulated within the team members and the partner organizations for the effective conduction and the completion of the programs. To our dismay, the project phased out in 2016 and has come under the ownership of the Government of Nepal.

However, where has the knowledge gained in the Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in the project gone? What activities were conducted to achieve the target for skilling the thousands of youths? There was no knowledge management and dissemination system in the project. Even the concerned government agencies working for the TVET development in Nepal was not conscious about it.

Thus the paper aims at disseminating some findings and the learning of the project so

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that it could contribute to the TVET development in Nepal, believing that knowledge should not die.

Research Methodology The paper is based on a qualitative study, following the interpretative paradigm through the case study approach. The project Decentralised Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement-Additional Financing (2012-2016) are taken as the case in this research (Yin, 2011). The review of the training guidelines, training completion reports, training effectiveness survey reports, and project administration manual was done and the interpretation of the secondary information was done to make a meaning throughout it. In other words, this research was carried out by doing the document analysis and interpretation through my personal experiences, as I was physically involved in the project as the monitoring officer for nearly two years. Likewise, my ontology is that the reality regarding TVET learning differs among the projects (Lofgren, 2013). Similarly, my epistemology is to get closer with the reality by reviewing the project documents such as - project administrative manual, training completion reports (Jensen, 2011).

Regarding this, (Yin, 1994 as cited in Bowen, 2009) has illustrated that "the qualitative researcher is expected to draw upon multiple (at least two) sources of evidence; that is, to seek convergence and corroboration through the use of different data sources and methods. Apart from documents, such sources include interviews, participant or non-participant observation, and physical artifacts "(p. 2). Similarly, the literature has pointed out the information gathered through different methods, which supported the researcher in meaning-making and the knowledge generation process by reducing the impact of being bias. Thus this research has tried its best to maintain the quality standard by reviewing of the authorized project documents and interpreting them it with the experiences of the researcher. I viewed this research from the perspective of knowledge management theory (Igbinovia & Ikenwe, 2018), which stresses that knowledge management is a driving force for the social, economic and educational development of any country. Regarding the quality standard of the research, I have reflected my observation, gained through 20 months of working experience as training monitoring officer in the project. Even I have conducted the peer debriefing of the

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subject research study with my University professors, research supervisors, and colleagues. This helped me to get different insights into the understanding of knowledge management in an institution. Regarding the ethical consideration, I believe that documenting and disseminating any information regarding the vocational training component of the project will neither make any harm to the then project personals, donors and government agencies nor violated any clauses of the employment contract, which I did with the employer organization.

Theoretical Underpinnings: Theory of Knowledge Management As shown in the chart below by Igbinovia and Ikenwe (2018), knowledge management is a byproduct of human experience by combining with information, data and the procedures. A complete framework of the people and the process, guided by a system is essential in managing the knowledge in any institution.

People

Knowledge management

Process

System

Figure 1: Tripartite nature of knowledge management “Knowledge Management can transform organizational new levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and scope of operation, using advanced technology, data and information are made available to users for effective productivity. Knowledge Management can transform organizational new levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and scope of operation, using advanced technology, data and information are made available to users for

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effective productivity. Knowledge Management is continually discovering organizational tacit knowledge. It is also useful for building knowledge, for problem-solving and decision making purpose.�(Dhamdhere, 2015, p. 168). Thus this structure seemed relevant to disseminate any new ideas and creations gained in an institution to the broader mass and equally important in sharing the ideas gained in DRILP-AF project.

However, the then policies of the project lacked such or any other different mechanisms for the knowledge management purpose. This paper highlights the tripartite nature of knowledge management by contextualizing it with the cases of the government-initiated vocational training projects in Nepal.

Findings and Discussions The findings and discussions have been divided into two sections. The first section includes several activities and learning made during three different phases of the project: pre-training, during training and post-training. Likewise, the second section includes the reflections of the project activities through knowledge management perspectives.

Activities and Learning in Pre-training Phase In the pre-phase of the training conductions, the activities like conduction of training needs assessment, selection of the training service provider, planning of the training activities, developing of the training identification codes, developing new curriculums, designing form and formats and generating coordinating mechanism among central team , district team and the training service providers were done.

Training Needs Assessment: The project had selected the 40 road sub-projects in 18 project districts. The team in the concerned districts was provided an orientation about conducting the training needs assessment at the community. A standard T.N.A checklist for conducting an initial survey was developed as per the project norms.

There were two priority groups identified for receiving the training. The first group included the households whose land or any physical structure was occupied or, damaged due to the road construction and were listed in the Resettlement Plan.

Secondly, it included the households belonging to the Gender Exclusion and Social Inclusion plan. Likewise, the people belonging the disadvantaged group households

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who were economically poor HHs <1 US $ a day or food sufficiency < 6 months at the same time were also discriminated and excluded by gender, caste, ethnicity (Dalit, Jananati, Madheshi/Terai group, discriminated Newars, other ethnic minorities-OBC, and Muslims) also interacted during the need assessments. Apart from these, the interested trades for receiving the training, educational status, age, gender, future plans, ready to travel other district for receiving the training (if necessary) , having the Nepalese citizenship , and belonging to road-building groups were inquired with the interested community people and a detail TNA list of more than 3,000 people was ready.

The project did not conduct Rapid Market Appraisal as it believed that the trained graduates can themselves bring change in the local economy through various small scale enterprises or engaging jobs in the trained trades. Besides, the survey also dug out the interested trades of the participants and it was assumed that the local idea of the training needs was more oriented towards their interests as well as their local market needs. However, open T.N.A brought difficulty in conduction of NSTB skill tests for the group of size less than 10 numbers. As a result, most of such training was not conducted later on. If conducted also, no NSTB skill test exam was organized because of the high skill-testing cost. Likewise, as envisaged by the project administration manual, there should be at least 40% female and 60% disadvantaged group (DAG) HHs representation in the training programs but this target was not met later on as only 33% females showed their interest in receiving training during TNA. It was the case of achieving the target of DAG HHs representation.

Selection of the Training Service Provider: The procurement process in selecting the training service providers was quite delayed due to long administrative works. However, through a competitive bidding process, Training Center Nepal, Sitapaila was selected as the service providers for the package I, II and IV and Nepal Engineering and Technical Science Academy JV Rastriya Prabhidhik Sikhschyala Surkhet was selected as the service provider for the package IV. One of the important clues of the agreement between the service providers and the project was that at least 90% of the participants should pass the NSTB skill-testing exam of those trades whose NSTB exam could happen. Otherwise, the target could not be met, the cost of training of

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such trainees would be deducted from the amount payable to the training service provider (TSP) on a pro-rata basis.

Planning of the Training Activities: Both mobile-based and center-based training activities were planned by the project. In the package I, the training venues were in Baitadi (Salena), Dhangadi, Gorkha, Kathmandu, Lalitpur. Similarly, in package II, the venues were Chitwan, Dhangadi, Gorkha (Ghairung, Nareswor, and Barpak), Itahari, Kathmandu, Ramechhap and Nepalgunj. Likewise in package III, the venues were Baglung, Baitadi, Gorkha, Jajarkot, Kalikot (Manma), Lamjung, Mugu (Gamgadhi), Myagdi, Okhaldhunga, and Surkhet. Also, in package IV, the training venues were Gorkha, Itahari, Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, and Ramechhap. The centrally based training venues were planned in the case where the participants need to come from different districts and where there should be the availability of hostel facilities for them along with the well-equipped training venues, proper management of the training service providers and competent as well as qualified trainers. Alternatively, the mobile-based training venues were planned in the particular district or even road subsection site, where there were at least 20 trainees in a training group. This would make easy in the conduction of NSTB skill test exams.

Development of Unique Training Identification Code: The individual trainee codes and individual training identification codes developed for this project became very much effective to identify the individual training program, package wise, trade wise, event wise and group size. The unique identification number of trainees was given as P1-03 means P1 = Package I and 03 = Trainee number 03. Likewise, the separate identification code was given to the training event as P01-T05-19 means: P01=package I, T= Tailoring trade, 05= Fifth event, 19= 19 number of trainees. These codes helped in reporting, file management, data entry works and more.

Recommendation Letter by the Districts: Before sending the participants in the training program, every district team conducted an orientation program highlighting their rights, roles, and responsibilities during the training program. The participants coming to the training venue along had the recommendation letter of the district team addressing the training service provider with the information like their disaggregated data of gender, age, belonging to resettlement plan or gender exclusion and social

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inclusion group, interested training trades, and needing child-care facility or not during the training. The TSP used the letter as a referent in providing different facilities to the participants and as a claim document later on.

Developing Training Curriculums: The curriculums in some non- NSTB trades were developed by the training service providers and the project. The related subject experts of the training service providers were involved in designing the curriculums.

The Project Coordination Unit (DRILP-AF under The Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads, a department under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development of Nepal) approved the curriculum. These include 160 hours Light vehicle driving training, 160 hours basic computer operator training, 160 hours small tea shop and hotel management training, 390 hours bamboo handicraft maker training and 160 hours three-phase electrician training. More importantly, the civil engineering and vocational training experts from the project were involved in designing the 10 days (70 hrs) Earthquake resilient building technology training for skilled mason.

Training Monitoring Form: The Project Coordination Unit developed a standard checklist for the monitoring of the training activities. It includes four different components for the field verification. Firstly, the primary information like name of the trade, training venue and code number, start and end date, name of the training service provider, present trainees, and name of the trainers are mentioned in the form.

Secondly, the checklist for the physical facilities such as appropriate and wellventilated hall, toilets, washrooms, and safe working environments are listed. Thirdly, the core training activities such as trainer, curriculum, quality, childcare, internal monitoring and supervision, food and accommodation, skill test, tool/kit distribution plan, and group insurance are numbered in the form. On the fourth number, the provisions of the linkage with the employment plan are inquired with the training participants. Then the satisfaction of the training program was randomly asked with 2 or 3 trainees. Finally, it included the suggestions and recommendation by the trainees, trainers and the supervisor. The teams also refer to the former portion of the checklist in the venue verification before the training program.

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Reporting formats: A field visit-reporting format of monitoring visit of life skill training was developed to report the line managers. The template includes date of monitoring, location, name of the trade, number of trainers, major findings and feedback (positive and developmental), on the spot suggestions and remedies along with the time frame and naming of the joint monitoring team (district team, representatives of the training service provider and project coordination unit) . The page attached to the training photos was prepared and circulated along with the team members. Likewise, the training service providers should submit the report in four phases: inception plan, individual mid-term reports, individual training completion reports, and final training completion reports.

The inception plan report included background information, approach and methodology, training management plan (instruction materials, food, and accommodation, organizing skill testing, insurance, and support services, outsourcing of some training subjects, phasing of training cycles, human resources, safety measures/emergency preparedness and GESI approach in the training phase. Similarly it has monitoring plan, team composition, description of the training program, training event information sheet, detailed training schedule and reporting, formats of the training information sheet, trainees registration form, training weekly schedule, attendance sheet, visitor's logbook, trainer's logbook, training evaluation form, performance evaluation sheet, work schedule, and planning for deliverables .

Likewise the individual mid-term report incorporated cover page, training details(code, trade name, TSP's name, Trainers name, training venue, start date and end date, training objectives, participants disaggregate details, implemented training methodology, approach, and methodology, safety measures, observations of training), annexes as : trainees registration form, Training weekly schedule, training evaluation sheet, trainees attendance sheet(of the half training conduction period).

Regarding the individual training completion report, it included the cover page, training details such as code, trade name, TSP's name, trainers name, training venue, start date and end date, training objectives. Similarly, it had participants disaggregate details, implemented training methodology, approach, and methodology, safety measures, observations of training, achieved results and outputs, lesson learned, conclusion and

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recommendations, improvements to be made for better conduction of training shortly, and visitors' comments with the action taken. Furthermore, it had annexes as trainees registration form, training weekly schedule, training evaluation sheet, trainees attendance sheet(of the whole training conduction period), trainers' logbook, aide Memories(photos of individual participants), training photographs, NSTB exam appearing attendance sheet, visitors' logbook, photocopy of completion certificate of participants The final training completion report included all the contents of the individual training completion report including the NSTB result sheet.

Activities and Learning in During Training Phase The implementation of the training program began in January 2015. Different activities were performed during this stage. NSTB level-1 standard trainings were provided to the participants with the provisions of their skill testing. Different innovative activities were done during training programs to provide market-oriented skills to the participants.

Training Implementation: Though the project began in 2012 A.D, the actual training implementation started in January 2015. Although the Project duration was of 5 years (January 2012 to December 2016), the initial 36 months were invested in TNA process, document preparation process, and TSP selection process. The project got only 24 months period for providing training to 3000 potential participants. Also, the huge gap between TNA conduction and training implementation resulted in the high rate of replaced trainees listed, which was earlier mentioned in the T.N.A. The majority of participants who showed interest in particular training could not appear in the program because most of the females got already married and left the villages.

Likewise, the maximum number of youths had either left the village or the country to work outside and some of them even changed their mind to go to another district or even Kathmandu or Dhangadi or Itahari by leaving home for nearly two and half months. Thus the district teams sent the replaced trainees by conducting the T.N.A through fast track process and recommended the new trainees for the training.

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Apart from these, the training programs were divided into two categories. Category A included the training program whose training events had group size at least 20 and whose NSTB skill test could happen. Likewise, category B included the training program, which included NSTB trades with group size less than 10 and all Non-NSTB trades. The training programs were conducted as 390 hours training program and 160 hours training program.

Difficult to Conduct Training at Particular Districts for All Trades: Although TSP was instructed to conduct the training at the particular district and prioritizing under construction road section sites, practically it was not possible in many cases.

For example in one training event P01-MR01-19, participants were from 4 project districts, i.e. Baitadi (2), Bajhang (5), Bajura (3), Darchula (9). So, the common training venue was managed at Dhangadi by the TSP, where it had been running such training programs from a long time.

Basic Level Training (NSTB-Level 1): The project provided only basic level training (NSTB-Level 1) to its beneficiaries. This was helpful for the novice learners but some of the experienced already working participants in the particular trades were expecting the advance training (Level 2). Likewise, there were some trainees as well, who had already gained mastery in some skills but got enrolled in the training for getting NSTB skill test pass certificates. TNA could not identify these concerns of the participants. Similarly, some essential components separate package of life skills (selfawareness, gender and domestic violence, adolescence and reproductive health, communication, decision making and goal setting, self-management, exploitation, and human trafficking) and enterprise development skill were not mandatory in the project.

Thus some of the participants even said that the training was just focused on the training.

Facilities to the Participants during Training: The training programs were designed as residential except those which were conducted in the particular settlement. The project had allocated Nrs. 700 per participants per day as daily subsistence allowance, food, and lodging service. Out of that, a participant got Nrs .200 cash per day as a subsistence allowance. As a post-training tools/kit support, the trainees received the basic tools kit up to Rs. 5000 per trainee. However, this

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provision was permitted in 20 different trades like automobile mechanics, bakery, bamboo handicraft, assistant beautician, building electrician, community livestock assistant, construction carpenter, dental chairside assistant, furniture maker, Indian cook, Jr. computer hardware technician, mason, mobile phone repairer, motorcycle mechanics, nursery assistant, off-season vegetable production, junior plumber, radio/ television repairer, tailoring and small tea-shop and hotel management.

Even, there were childcare facilities for the children of age under 3. In additions, there was a provision of group insurance of the trainees. Similarly, the participants were provided a maximum of Rs 2000 per trainee as transportation facilities for reaching the training venue and returning by presenting the transportation bills. However, for the trainees of Humla and Dolpa, the trainees were provided the airfare cost as per actual to reach Nepalgunj training venue for receiving the training and returning to home.

However, there was a large number complaint from the of trainees and some district teams that the transportation facility paid to the trainees to come to the training venue to return to the project district was very less. It was felt that due to these dense facilities to the trainees, the grievance of most of the participants was focused on the services they received like food, lodging, recreating, childcare, transportation, rather than the core training programs.

Some Innovative Interventions at Training Programs: The training service provider conducted some of the training programs more creatively. Regarding a basic computer training event in Itahari venue, the trainees also learned extra marketoriented skills like making bio-data, making training application forms, designing certificates, making logos, photoshop(photo sizing, designing), document scanning, etc.

Free English language class was also provided to the participants. Likewise, in an assistant beautician training event at Kathmandu venue, local beauty camp was organized at Sitapaila during teej festival (providing service of threading, juro, mehendi, hair cutting) and students also attended a beauty seminar. Similarly, in a mobile phone repairer event at Kathmandu, trainees visited the wholesale market of mobile accessories at Maha Boudha area to study the market. In a tailoring event in Kathmandu venue, trainees got chance to learn sewing shirt, pant items as marketoriented skills. They also made training uniform of Kurtasalwar themselves. The trainers trained on the sewing of bags, making handkerchiefs, making purses, making masks,

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making potholder to the trainees. The trainees received all the sewed dresses by themselves during the training at the closing ceremony at free of cost, which they were asked to do the demonstration in their enterprise, which they planned to open.

Similarly, in junior plumber, building electrician, bricklayer mason training events conducted at Kathmandu venue, the participants got chances of doing on the job training in the real workplace. Likewise, in community livestock training event conducted at Chiwan, various resource persons from Lumbini Kennel club, District livestock office - Chitwan provided practical lectures related to dog diseases, commercial livestock farming and diseases to the trainees. Trainees of the event also visited Nepal polytechnic institute, Bharatpur. In light vehicle driving training event in Chitwan, traffic police provided awareness related classes like traffic rules, license form filling, road accidents, etc. In nursery assistant, Jr. Poultry technician and bee-keeper training events in Chitwan venues, the participants did field visits and observed the trade-related enterprising activities by interacting with the local entrepreneurs.

Likewise, the dental chairside assistant training event in Kathmandu was conducted at "Universal Dental Hospital and training center", where the trainees learned the practical skills by dealing with the patients directly under the supervision of experts.

Similarly, the participants of a bakery training event in Kathmandu got chances to learn the training of continental cooking as well. The participants of micro-hydro assistant trades in Kathmandu venue were taken for visiting in micro-hydro plant sites at Kaverpalanchok where the trainees learned practical operation skills and observed community-managed micro-hydro plants. In the Indian cook training event in Chitwan venue, the trainees visited the hotels like Global hotel, Central palm hotel, Royal century hotel at Bharatpur and Sauraha where they observed the hospitality industry closely. They learned staff management, cooking, and food serving units, guests welcoming, gardening, maintaining hygiene and discipline, etc.

Activities and Learning in Post Training Phase In the post-training phase the follow up of the trained graduates was done by conducting the effectiveness survey of the participants. The internal teams conducted it for the two times. The samples for the survey were selected through random sampling methods. There was no involvement of the training service provider in the follow-up survey.

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Follow up of the Trained Graduates: The project did not have post-training follow up mechanism of the trained graduates, which were present in most of the other vocational training projects in Nepal. However, the project itself conducted the survey two times to assess the effectiveness of life skill training on its project districts.

Firstly, it was conducted in 11 project districts in between May 9, 2016, to June 10, 2016, to support the ongoing project activities and revise and for the possible revisions of any clause for the effective implementation of the training programs.

Secondly, it was conducted in all 18-project districts between November 8, 2016, to December 2, 2016, at the ending phase of the project. In the later survey, 19 success case studies were collected from the various project districts. Some of the interesting cases were such as the opening of a hotel in Dolpa district, opening of mobile phone repairer shops by graduates in Bajhang, Ramechhap, Taplejung, and Mugu districts, opening of tailor shops in Jajarkot, Kalikot, Lamjung and Myagdi districts and opening of a beauty parlor shop in Baitadi district. Until that period, 2,740 trainees (male-1889, female-851) had completed training in 26 different trades. The Project coordination unit (PCU) team decided 18% sample size, i.e. 501 nos. The process of the sampling was stratified and random sampling method. Apart from the training recipients, district project officers from all 18-project districts, partner training service providers, project coordinator, project sociologist, training monitoring officer from the consultant team (ITECO/SDC) were involved in the key informants' interview process. The survey dug out some interesting figures and details, regarding the training programs conducted by the project (DRILP-AF, 2016b).

Firstly, altogether 29 % of the training recipients were found employed in the trained trades. Out of remaining unemployed, 38% of graduates reveal the economic problem as the major factor that was hindering them from starting self-businesses. Likewise, some other reasons for being unemployed were planning to receive advance training course, busy in household works, change in profession, less land to do commercial farming, no driving license, not getting regular work at village, planning to go abroad, continued formal education, difficult for female in getting work at villages in nontraditional trades and so on.

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Secondly, regarding the utilization of the tools/kit support provisions, it was revealed that 36% of the training participants had not received such facilities. Remaining 23% were utilizing it in the income-generating works. Similarly, 20% were using the tools/kit in their household works only. Interestingly, 12% of them had not used them once since they got it from the project. Thirdly, the surveyed participants have disclosed some of the good aspects of the training as improvement in their livelihood, provisions of facilities like subsistence allowance, transportation, childcare, food and lodging, and insurance, experienced trainers, training methodologies and tools/kits/equipments/consumables at the venues, enough training duration, provision of NSTB skill test and the management of the training service providers.

Similarly, it even revealed that nearly one-third of the participants had a grievance over the facilities provided to them like food, hostel, child-care. Apart from this, 19% of them were not satisfied with the course contents of the training, which were basic and irrelevant to the current market needs. Likewise, a large number of the participants have concern over the far training venues, long training duration, insufficient training materials, no field visits, no on the job training. Also, 15% of the training participants were from Light Vehicle Driving trade, their future career after their training was uncertain because of not having a driving license with them. It could not be guaranteed that all of them could pass the license exam conducted by the Department of Transport Management, Nepal Government. However, the project developed the curriculum of a light vehicle driving by incorporating some basic vehicle repairing contents to minimize the unemployment rates of the participants of this trade.

In additions, the key informant's were quite satisfied due to the vocational training activities provided to the project beneficiaries and expected that this intervention could vibrant the local economy in the zone of the influence of the project. They believed that the capacity building the beneficiaries were a part of the social compensation provided to the road affected people so that they can make their lives better. However, no clear monitoring and evaluation framework responsibility to the district team and no grievance hearing and handling mechanism of the training participants locally and centrally created many stressful situations among the district team, training service providers and the project coordination unit. The key informant suggested there should not be a long gap between the TNA and training

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implementation, interested and capable participants should be provided advance training and the project should financially support the graduates in establishing the own enterprises. Also, there should not be delayed in publishing the result of skill test pass and certificate distribution because this discouraged many participants in immediate job searching after the completion of the training program.

Additionally, the key respondents provided some alternative ways to link the skill development programs in bringing quick changes in the lives of the participants. They pointed out that as most of the project road sections were focused in the hilly and mountainous region and the road had recently reached there, the project could provide horticulture, herbal farming and processing, fruit juice making, livestock rearing, dairy management, market development, and cooperative management related training to the local people for the holistic development of the region. Despite the fact, the project could not focus on all those, as these were not identified during the TNA. Thus it could be a better idea to conduct the RMA (Rapid market appraisal) along with the TNA before the initiation of any vocational training projects.

Reflection: Enthusiastic Beneficiaries, Centralized System and Unclear Knowledge Management The project worked following the right based and need-based development model. It was the right of rural people to have access to decentralized development through infrastructural growth and improve their livelihood. For this, the need assessment was done in the community to plan the different vocational training activities. To make this happen, the community people, the district teams in 18 project districts, the project coordination unit, the central consultant team, the donor and the training service providers worked wholeheartedly and provided training to the nearly 3000 people.

The central team and district team conducted the TNA, the community people showed their interest and the central team prepared the guidelines as per project administration manual and selected the training service providers. In this regard, Chambers (1983) has even quoted that sitting, asking and listening is a best methodological tool to get closer with the community people, learn from them and plan the necessary development activities with their involvement. Then the training service providers conducted the training programs in different project districts or

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other nearby venues. The participants were enthusiastic in learning the new skills and excited about changing their livelihood conditions. They got different facilities during and after the training completion programs such as daily subsistence allowance, transportation allowance, free food, and lodging facility, free childcare facility, free tools/kit in the selected trades and appearing in the exam of NSTB skill free of cost. It is true, that state-led development strategies are welfare-oriented (Shrestha, 2009).

The project run by the government was also pointed towards changing the livelihood of the rural people through integrated interventions like constructions of rural roads, community infrastructures, building personal and social capacity through community mobilization as well as skill development program. Likewise, such interventions include need-based model as it lasts longer and incorporates the grass root people in the mainstream development process (Patnaik & Becker, 1999 as cited in Ericson and Stahlbrost, 2017).

During the training planning and implementation programs, various rigorous processes happened as part of day-to-day work. However, unknowingly, those learning and new challenges were creating a new knowledge system in the vocational training sector in Nepal. Firstly, the learning from the pre-training phase were TNA conduction, trainees selection, selection of the training service provider, planning of the training activities, development of the training identification codes, designing the training monitoring formats, finalizing the contents of the reports to be submitted by the service providers and designing new curriculums which were not available . Secondly, during training phase, the knowledge gained was in the sectors of training implementation activities for 3,000 deserving participants, providing the facilities to the participants, grievance handling of the participants and arranging the NSTB skill tests.

Lastly, in the post-training phase, the project learned to do follow up of its graduates through survey methods. The stakeholders like training participants, district teams, service providers, and consultant team and project coordination unit also presented their views regarding the positive aspects and some improvement in the vocational training component of the project. The three phases of training program helped to gain some different knowledge regarding the vocational training program in Nepal. To our dismay, all these learning were shared within the team members only for internal reporting purposes. The broader mass outside the project was unknown about it. In this regard, under the clause of right to information in The constitution of Nepal, it is

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mentioned that "Every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of his or her interest or of public interest "(The constitution of Nepal, 2015, p. 21). For this, knowledge seeker should be equally proactive to ensure the right to information.

There was the void of the knowledge management system in the project. Neither the project designers felt their responsibility to incorporate it while designing the system nor does the apex body for the vocational training development in Nepal has strict guidelines for such projects. Although the CTEVT strategic plan 2014-2018 mentioned to develop and update the CTEVT knowledge management system by 2015, the mechanism does not seem influential in most of the vocational training projects here (CTEVT, 2014). In other words, such many projects of vocational training, run by the Government units here seem to have created the multi-centers in the vocational training development. Such projects simply plan the training, provide the facilities to the participants, conduct the NSTB skill test of the graduates and leave them in the job market. There is no centralized data system for such training recipients. There is no clear follow-up mechanism of fund utilization by skilling such large number of training participants. There is no central body to gather information regarding ideas, challenges, coping strategies, and innovations in the vocational training projects run by different institutions. In other words, it is believed that knowledge is power, but there is less seriousness in keeping that knowledge alive, academically disseminating it to the broader audiences and utilizing the idea in designing the similar nature of projects.

Conclusions The project has added a milestone in the short-term vocational training sector in Nepal. The knowledge gained by the project in the skill-training sector during the implementation phase is an asset in the vocational training sector in Nepal, which might help the policymakers to formulate appropriate plans and policies for developing TVET sector as per the need of the concerned target group and current market demands. However, in the DRILP-AF vocational training project, the people were involved in creating new ideas. Besides, the data processing and field learning were circulated within the project only. However, there was no specific guideline (system),

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as mentioned in the project administration manual so that the knowledge generated in the project has not been disseminated until now.

Igbinovia and Ikenwe (2018) have pointed, "Knowledge management is made up of three components of processes, people and systems, which must be effectively managed to meet the objective of any knowledge management practice" (p .35). But what, when if any institution does not have such provision. In Nepal, the processes of collecting field data and learnings, success and failure cases are well communicated within the vocational training project. This happened well in the DRILP-AF project as well. The central team, district team, partners, and training participants had good collaboration in bringing good results of the projects and imparting the quality training and achieving the good employment percentage of the graduates. However, the system, which project administration manual should reveal about the knowledge management and dissemination was lacking. Neither was it inquired by the supreme body in Nepal, CTEVT, which is responsible for the development of vocational training in Nepal.

Vocational training projects initiated by the Government of Nepal like DRILP-AF are of course, essential in bringing the changes in the rural people, but are equally blamed for creating multi-centers in imparting the training programs to the grass-root people.

However, these projects plan the training, gather the participants, and implement the training program and then what. Neither most of them do follow up survey of the participants, nor do they feel responsible to share the knowledge gained in the overall project with others. This has been further supported by a report (Ministry of Education, 2017) also claims that "In Nepal, TVET programs are run by government agencies, non-government organizations, private firms, as well as project supported by different donor agencies. Some fifteen line ministries are also offering TVET programs.

However, coordination among the organizations providing TVET programs and the availability of information and data regarding the same is lacking. (p. 6)" Thus there prevails only internalized knowledge dissemination system in the government initiated vocational training projects in Nepal. Such systems are vacuum in disseminating the learning to the wider mass. The TVET policy of the Government of Nepal has equally highlighted to expand access and inclusion, ensure quality, relevance, coordination, and institutional strengthening (CTEVT, 2012). However, the later part seems to have

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shadowed in today's context. This was timely dug out by a review report of United Nations Development Program, which mentioned that, "there is need to have policy dialogue on the TVET contexts of Nepal, TVET needs, gaps in the policies, engagement of the private sector, provision of competency-based training curricula development" (UNDP, 2016). The present scenario of creating multi-centers by different vocational training projects under the Government of Nepal in terms of identifying the training needs at community, training implementation, knowledge management and conducting effectiveness surveys on the trainings need immediate reforms. These projects should be accountable and liable towards the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training. CTEVT has the authority in developing the vocational training sector in Nepal and even "it is the national autonomous apex body for TVET sector in Nepal" (MoE, 2017, p. 11). This reform is expected to contribute to the development of the vocational training sector in Nepal.

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Ericson, A., & Stahlbrost, A. (2006). In search of Innovation: Grasping the concepts of needs. International journal of Knowledge, technology and society, (2). Retrieved from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:987618/FULLTEXT01.pdf on July 25, 2019 Government of Nepal. (2015). The constitution of Nepal. Kathmandu: Author.

Igbinovia, M. O., & Ikenwe, I. J. (2018). Knowledge management: Process and system.

Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323323869 Jensen, R. (2011). Epistemology. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc75YUOOsyo Lofgren, K. (2013). What is ontology? Introduction to the word and the concept. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTsaZWzVJ4c Ministry of Education. (2017). Comprehensive TVET annual report. Kathmandu: Author National Planning Commission. (2016). Fourteenth three-year plan. Kathmandu: Authors Shrestha. M. (2009). State versus market-led development strategy with special reference to Nepal. In Community Development. Kathmandu: Quest publication.

New spotlight magazine. (2017, June 17). DRILP achieves target. In New spotlight magazine. Retrieved from https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2017/06/17/drilpachieves-target/ on August 29, 2019 United Nations Development Program. (2016). Initial findings from the review of technical and vocational education and training policy 2012. Kathmandu: Support to knowledge and lifelong learning skills project.

Yin, R. K. (2011). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

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Article 05 Vocational Qualifications Framework: An Instrument to Enhance Employment, Income, and Job Quality Devi Prasad Dahal Team Leader, National Vocational Qualification System (NVQS) Project, Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training, Bhaktapur, Nepal Abstract This article analyzes and presents practices, experiences, and examples of the contributions of Vocational Qualifications Framework (VQF) enhancing the employment, income and quality of the workforce. This ultimately, will contribute to the overall socio-economic development of a country in an inclusive manner maintaining life-long learning and giving a due recognition to the learning. While talking about the employment and quality – it ought to refer to the learning outcomes of any skill or activity. In case of VQF, it is the Competency Standard (CS) that emphasizes on the learning outcomes.

For productive learning – individuals must follow a cycle of learn, unlearn, and relearn.

This cycle forces one to be fully oriented towards effectiveness thus become competent. If not, we may be labeled as illiterate.1 Alvin Toffler wisely realized this and said, “The illiterates of the 21st. Century will not be those who cannot read and write but rather those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” Many actors seem to have less understanding and realization of this fact thus, loose the track of mastery learning.

Secondly, since there is no well-developed and accepted national system of qualifications in Nepal, many actors fall in the trap of fragmented approach of training and education. Thirdly, it is widely prevalent that ‘certificates’ and ‘qualifications’ are used synonymously in Nepal. This myth has further deterred the quality and employability of the workforce produced. Fourthly, myth prevails still today among the bureaucrats, developers and implementers that ‘competency’ and ‘skill’ are the same.

1

An American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communications. Writer of the famous books, ‘Future Shock’, ‘The Third Wave’ etc.

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Rampantly, it is forgotten that skill is only one step towards competency. Fifthly, there is widely spread disbelief that learning taking place, in so called formal settings, can only be considered for certification and recognition. This has even further deteriorated the identification and recognition of inborn champions and artisans in the society resulting demotivation among the talents.

In light to the above, analysis of the issues is carried out through literature search, collating experiences from few other countries, consultation among selected key actors and experts, and inputs from selected professionals through structured questionnaires using e-mails.

The result of applied methods is expected to establish the basis of VQF enhancing the credible employment, decent income, and quality of job. This is possible by fully utilizing each element of the nationally approved VQF. These are Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), Life-long learning, Qualification Level descriptors of each qualification level, Qualifications assessment, Credit and credit transfer scheme, Progression and pathways, Bridge courses etc. Principal basis of the above is the Competency Standards developed and endorsed by the sector wise industry and business bodies which ultimately assure relevancy, quality, and recognition of the qualification awarded.

Keywords: Employment; Income; Job Quality; Vocational Qualifications Framework (VQF); Competency Standard Background and Scope The introduction of National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs), including National Vocational Qualifications Frameworks (NVQFs) specifically for the vocational education and training sector are policy initiatives that have far reaching implications for the management and delivery of quality and relevant education and training.

Despite the caution called for by researchers and the challenging reality of implementation in both developed and developing countries, NQFs and NVQFs continue to be included in national reform programs in many regions of the world.

Likewise, Nepal has progressed quite well on this by creating the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;national frameworkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and most of its core elements such as the competency standards, qualification

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packages, assessment packages, accredited assessment centres, assessorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preparation, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) system, Sector Skill Committees (SSCs) and so on.

Current situation is that the NVQF approval process is final stage and the cabinet decision is awaited. Hence, further explanation on NVQF will be based on the existing experience of NVQS Project, literature review, and direct and indirect consultation with national and international experts.

What is National Vocational Qualifications Framework?

National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) believes in a hierarchical system that calls for the minimum competencies (attitude, skills and knowledge) required to perform certain occupation based on industry and business standards. It is a competency-based framework that organizes all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and attitude. These levels, graded from one to eight, are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess or prove in an assessment regardless of whether they are achieved through formal, non-formal or informal learning. Therefore, NVQF is a specification of required competencies expected from a skilled worker, who will then be gainfully employed at an appropriate level (or already employed) in an industry or workplace.

The NVQF is an instrument, which has already been introduced in several countries and is used to classify competence levels necessary for every job, from the beginners to the highest professional level. It is equally beneficial for trainees in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system, as well as for the industry and employers. Reasons for introducing NQF/NVQF vary across different countries.

However, in most cases they include: (a) promoting lifelong learning; and (b) enhancing quality assurance and recognition (Tuck, 2007).

Referring to the quote of Ron Tuck above, it is evident that NVQF/NQF firmly pledge the job competence of the people required by the industry and employers, knowledge and ability required by the higher education institutions (academia) in the pathway, and invariably by the candidates who would like to be benefitted from the system. In short, promoting lifelong learning, enhancing quality assurance and recognition of earned qualifications are the strongest pillars of a good qualification framework.

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A well designed NVQ allows learners to upward qualification progression in the same occupation at the labour market and/or provides permeability to increase the qualifications through general education. It also opens its door to provide access to those who have general education qualification at certain levels. Thus, NVQ works as bridges and ladders based on the quality assessment and recognition of prior learning.

In doing so, the framework also suggests certain bridging mechanism to satisfying the competency from one qualification to the other (NVQS Guiding Document, Nepal, 2018). NVQF takes all of a country's TVET qualifications and arranges them in a clearly defined structure. In this context, qualifications are understood as sets of certified or documented skills with due regard given to the respective learning path.

Gathering experiences and learning from different countries and based on the global initiatives on NVQF implementation, the qualifications framework clearly depicts as an effective collaborator that brings academia and the labour market close so that market needs and training inputs match well and assures Figure 1: Bond of Academia/Vocational Education and the Labour Market decent job and income of the workforce. Thus, enhanced employment, income and job quality become common agenda of the training and job market.

Figure1 portrays the bond of Academia/Vocational Education and the Labour Market through Vocational Qualifications with key features of NVQF contributions in the country.

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Why National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF)?

The main aim of development and implementation of the National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) for Nepal is to ensure and assure quality, widening access, enhancing transparency and interrelation of qualifications, and facilitating recognition of qualifications at national and international levels. The aim is also to provide flexibility in obtaining qualifications, possibility to plan different learning paths for career and personal growth.

National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) Nepal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Main Frame Non-Formal and Informal Learning

NVQ Level

NVQ Level 8

NVQ Level 7

NVQ Level 6 Lifelong Learning and/or Continuing Education and Training

R P L

NVQ Level 5 QA+

QA+

QA+

QA+

NVQ Level 4

NVQ Level 3

NVQ Level 2

NVQ Level 1

TVET Qualification Title

QA

QA

QA

QA

PhD

Masters (Technical)

National Diploma National Technician Certificate

QA

National Skill Certificate

QA

Colleges and Universities

Bachelor (Technical)

QA

QA

Place of Learning

Polytechnics

Voc. and Tech. Schools/ Technical Institutes, Industry/Workplace

Basic Skill Certificate

Entry Skill Certificate

TVET: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (+) : Indicates additional technological and practical components as required for each level of NVQF. QA: Qualification Assessed as per the set criteria by National Voc. Qualifications Authority (NVQA).

RPL: Recognition of Prior Learning.

Figure 2: NVQF â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Main Frame (1)

National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) works as an instrument (Figure 2) that will organize and set all qualifications (Vocational) according to a

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series of levels of attitude, skills and knowledge from Level 1 to Level 8 in terms of learning outcomes that learner must possess regardless of whether they are obtained through formal, non-formal or informal learnings.

Hence, NVQF will support at System and Policy level by defining National Competency Standards (NCS) for each level of qualifications, formulating policies that are coherence with the need of national and international job markets, creating progression routes for the individuals in their area of interest in education or work. Furthermore, it opens the permeability between the vocational stream and general education stream.

Secondly, NVQF enhances Quality and Credibility of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at national and international level by engaging stakeholders, building trust among the employers and making accountable to the authorities through improved training and assessment system.

Most importantly, NVQF promotes Inclusion and Recognition of skills acquired through non-formal, informal and life-long learning assessed and certified with Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) approach. It widens the opportunity for learners to formalize their life-long learning (non-formal, informal) at appropriate level through credit transfer system.

Expected Outcomes Expected outcomes from implementation of NVQF in Nepal are (but not limited to):

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National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Nepal â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Main Frame Formal Education & Training System Non-Formal and Informal Learning

NVQ Level

NVQ 8 NVQ 7 NVQ 6 Lifelong Learning and/or Continuing Education and Training

R P L

NVQ 5 QA+

QA+

QA+

QA+

NVQ 4

QA

QA

QA

QA

QA

TVET Qualification Title

GE Qualification Title

PhD

PhD

Masters (Technical)

Masters

NVQ 2

NQ Level

QA

QA

Bachelor (Technical)

Bachelor

National Diploma

School Leaving Certificate Exam

QA

National Technician Certificate

Secondary Education Exam

QA

NVQ 3

QA

NVQ 1

ISCED Level

NQ 8

ISCED 8

NQ 7

ISCED 7 ISCED 6

NQ 6 NQ 5 NQ 4 NQ 3

Basic and Compulsory Education Through Grade 8

Non-Formal and Informal Learning

NQ 2

QA

R P L

Lifelong Learning and/or Continuing Education

QA

ISCED 3

ISCED 2

QA

ISCED 1 NQ 1

QA

TVET: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (+) : Indicates additional technological and practical components as required for each level of NVQF QA: Qualification Assessed as per the set criteria by National Qualifications Authority (NQA) GE: General Education RPL: Recognition of Prior Learning.

ISCED: International Standard Classification of Education

Figure 3: NVQF â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Main Frame (2)

1. Mobility between vocational and general education by alignment of diplomas/degrees with NVQF (Figure: 3).

2. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), allowing transition from non-formal to organized job market.

3. Strong participation of industry in setting competency standards and assessment criteria.

4. Approval of National Competency Standards as national standards for TVET. 5. Standardized, consistent, quality assured and nationally acceptable outcomes of training across the country through a national quality assurance framework.

6. National and international mobility of skilled workforce, through international equivalence of NVQF. 7. Mapping of progression pathways within sectors and across sectors.

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How Does a Qualifications Framework Contribute to Employment?

Viewing the components of NVQF/NQF; there are quite a few specific parts (such as qualification level descriptors commonly agreed by the government, industry and business, academia; competencies of each qualification holder that are defined and accepted by the job market, academia and subject matter experts in each sector and occupation etc.) that are useful for a person enhancing employability in each sector. As framed in Nepal’s National Qualifications Framework (Figure 3), it clearly shows vertical progression, horizontal mobility between two streams, in built Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) that allows a person to validate past learning from any means and can formalize the competencies (attitude, skills and knowledge) life-long learning opportunities for every citizen and so on. This provision is possible in Nepal’s NVQF as this is an integrated or shared framework.

Rightly mentioned in the ‘The European Qualifications Framework: supporting learning, work and cross-border mobility, (2018), a shared qualifications framework can support the understanding and valuing of skills and qualifications. It can also help individuals to acquire and update skills throughout their life as they move between different types and levels of education, and between education and employment, within and across countries.

Marianne Thyssen; European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility puts well how the qualifications framework helps better skills match in the labour market and enhance the employability of the workforce.

She says, “In our modern world, people need opportunities to build their skills and put them to use as they move between jobs, types of work, and further training. The European Qualifications Framework is a cornerstone of our cooperation on making people’s skills and qualifications more easily understood and recognised when they move either at home or abroad for work or study. Thanks to the EQF, employers can more easily compare foreign qualifications to national ones and better understand the skills profiles of candidates. The EQF helps people put their talent to use, smoothing the path to further learning and supporting a better skills match in the labour market”. Quoted from, The European Qualifications Framework: supporting learning, work and cross-border mobility, (2018).

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While considering the skills and competencies of people for enhanced employability, income and job quality; mainly subject matters competencies as needed in the jobs, soft skills required by the employers, willingness of the candidates to enhance qualifications to match with the changing technology, and productivity skills are crucial.

We have to make sure that these core areas are well addressed by the National Qualifications Frameworks. Referring to Nepalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Qualifications Framework (Figure:3) including the National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF), the framework has integrated all the aspects as described above and ensures each component are clearly defined in the following section.

Elaboration of Vocational Qualifications Framework Section (Figure 3) NVQ Levels One of the series of levels of learning achievement arranged in ascending order from 1 to 8 according to which the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is organized and to which qualification types are linked.

This section represents the level of competencies (Attitude, Skills and Knowledge) required to perform job at different levels of learnings. The levels are classified as National Vocational Qualifications Level from 1 to 8. The NVQ Level is classified based on thorough consultations with different national and international TVET experts, referencing to different countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; NVQ levels and various validation workshops.

Classification of NVQ level will be important for the employers to select the required competency areas suitable for particular job and equally needed for the TVET implementers to design and execute different training as per the demand. This improves overall performance and motivation in delivery of quality services to customers in one hand and to develop skillful workforce relevant to the industry and business on the other.

These levels can be described as follows. These level descriptors in this context are generic in nature and sector specific or occupation specific descriptors are subject to the need-based development.

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NVQ Level 1: The level of competencies that NVQ Level 1 requires basic general knowledge, social skills and basic skills to carry out simple tasks. Needs to work under full supervision of the supervisor and can deal with simple work situations.

NVQ Level 2: The Competencies required in NVQ Level 2 is higher than Level 1. One should have knowledge of particular field of work, should possess minimum cognitive and practical skills, basic skills to solve routine problems using simple rules and tools. But still need to follow guidelines of the supervisor.

NVQ Level 3: NVQ Level 3 requires the candidates to have general concepts and skills of the job.

Should have skills to apply basic tools and techniques to solve problems. Need to have attitude to act with some autonomy, cope with challenges under given conditions.

NVQ Level 4: The level of competencies that NVQ Level 4 required are in-depth theoretical knowledge in the field of work, should possess generating techniques to solve specific problems. Should be able to handle assigned and routine situations independently.

Should supervise others in common tasks.

NVQ Level 5: The competencies required for NVQ Level 5 are specialized theoretical and factual knowledge and skills to work, supervise and assess subordinates. Should demonstrate creative abilities to solve abstract problems. Should manage, coordinate and supervise selected projects independently, handle the unpredictable situations and critically and responsibly deal with the actions of other people.

NVQ Level 6: NVQ Level 6 requires the candidates to have advanced theoretical knowledge of the field of work. Solid understanding and analyzing theories from critical perspectives.

Should demonstrate mastery of skills, solve complex and unpredictable problems.

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Should be able to take full responsibility of defined managerial tasks, act entrepreneurially, lead complex projects and manage subordinates.

NVQ Level 7: The competencies required for NVQ Level 7 are highly specialized knowledge of the work. Analytical forefront of knowledge in the field that includes critical thinking and or research, knowledge on the interface between different fields. Should possess specialized problem-solving skills. Research and innovation skills should be able to lead complex projects, independently takes responsibility in decision making, monitor and supervise the implementation of the strategy.

NVQ Level 8: NVQ Level 8 is the highest level of vocational qualifications. Hence, it requires knowledge at the most advanced frontier of a field of work or study at the interface between themes. Should possess the most advanced and specialized skills and techniques including evaluation and innovation. Should have skills to solve critical problems through research and innovation. Able to redefine existing knowledge or professional practice. Should conduct research on the process and product of the company, make innovations to contribute for further development of learners/ employees and company.

Validation of Informal and Non-formal Learning as an Integral Part of NVQF This section in the NVQF describes that attitudes, skills, and knowledge gained from lifelong learning and or education and training and Prior Learning are recognized, validated and permitted to get entitlement of claimed NQ/NVQ Levels both in General Education stream and Technical and Vocational Education and Training stream. This is the special arrangement for the non-formal and informal learners to mainstream them into national education system of their choice.

Non-Formal and Informal Learning Non-formal learning includes various semi structured learning or structured learning situations. This form of learning do not either have the level

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of curriculum, syllabus, accreditation and certification associated with 'formal learning', but is structured more than that associated with 'informal learning', which typically takes place naturally and spontaneously as part of other activities.

Informal learning is any learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure. It has no set objective in terms of learning outcomes and is never intentional from the learnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s standpoint. For all learners, this includes heuristic language building, socialization, enculturation, and play. Informal learning is a pervasive ongoing phenomenon of learning via participation or learning via knowledge creation, in contrast with the traditional view of teacher-centered learning via knowledge acquisition.

Lifelong Learning and /or Continuing Education Lifelong learning is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledgeâ&#x20AC;? for either personal or professional reasons. Similarly, 2Continuing Education is the education provided for adults after they have left the formal education system, consisting typically of short or part-time courses. This is also an all-encompassing term within a broad list of post-secondary learning activities and programs. It is recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the domain include: degree credit courses by non-traditional students, non-degree career training, college remediation, workforce training, and formal personal enrichment courses (both on-campus and online).

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Process of recognition of already gained skills of the individuals (with or without portfolios) to enable them to acquire NVQ after going through assessment system is called Recognition of Prior Learning. People have their understanding, experiences and learning on certain occupations while working or going through certain courses in the formal, non-formal or informal academic and/or non-academic streams. These experiences and learning help people to demonstrate their capability in performing job that is offered. Hence, Recognition of Prior Learning will help the people to have their skills validated and recognized and provide space to get higher level qualifications

2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_education

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recognizing their competencies and guiding them to fulfill the gaps in their skill to attain the particular NVQ level.

National Qualifications Framework structure has provisioned that candidates from Non-Formal and Informal Learning from both the streams General Education and TVET can be eligible for earning NVQ Level. But in order to earn the NVQ level they need to go through Qualification Assessment process and occupation and sector specific soft skills assessment. This provision will specially benefit the people who are acquiring skills and knowledges from employment or self-learning.

What Are the Key Qualities Employers Look at the Workforce?

Most of the cases, the employers like competent, efficient, resourceful, loyal, intelligent, proactive, responsible, team player and punctual people at work. In case of technical jobs, employers like those who are multi-skilled and competent, efficient, productive, responsible, and loyal. As a reference to answer the question, following web site3 from the Undercover Recruiter â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Recruiting and Talent Acquisition Blog and is found to be useful. Here is the adapted version of the summary on the employersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preference about qualities they look at the employees.

1) Competence: Competence is terribly important to the success. It is really the foundation of everything that happens to a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career. In its simplest terms, competence is the ability to get the job done. It is the ability to set priorities, to separate the relevant from the irrelevant tasks, and then to concentrate single-mindedly until the job is complete.

3

https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/top-7-qualities-employers-are-looking-candidates/

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2) Intelligence: In every study, it has been found that fully 76 percent of the productivity and contribution of an employee will be determined by his or her level of intelligence.

Intelligence in this sense means the ability to plan, to organize, to set priorities, to solve problems, and to get the job done. Intelligence refers to a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s level of common sense and your practical ability to deal with the day-to-day challenges of the job.

3) Leadership ability: Leadership is the willingness and the desire to accept responsibility for results. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the ability to take charge, to volunteer for assignments, and to accept accountability for achieving the required results of those assignments.

4) Integrity: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably the most important single quality for long-term success in life and at work. Integrity (truthfulness) begins by being true to oneself. This means to be perfectly honest with self and in relationships with others. One is willing to admit his/her strengths and weaknesses. Willing to admit made mistakes in the past.

5) Likability: Employers like people who are warm, friendly, easygoing, and cooperative with others.

Employers are looking for people who can join the team and be part of the work family. Men and women with good personalities are invariably more popular and more effective at whatever they do. Teamwork is the key to business success.

6) Courage: This is the willingness to take risks. Courage also means the willingness to accept challenges, the willingness to take on big jobs or even new jobs where there is a high degree of uncertainty and the possibility of failure.

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7) Inner strength: Inner strength means that one has the determination and the ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Inner strength means that one has the quality of persistence when the going gets rough.

What Key Features Are Integral to NVQF That Are Contributing to Enhance Employment, Income, and Job Quality?

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-

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Each NVQ Level has clear and specific descriptors developed, reviewed and endorsed among business and industry owners, government officers, academia, VET organizations, TVET experts and are aligned to the equivalent qualification titles given by education and training institutions.

National Occupational Skill Standards/National Competency Standards developed are owned by the sector specific employers, endorsed by them, meet four key dimensions of learning outcomes expected from candidates. These are task skills, task management, task organization and planning, and task environment. Each NOSS/NCS qualifies to be credible product meeting the national need from among the concerned stakeholders/actors; The curriculum development process and its endorsement are based on the employersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (private and public) requirements, follows competency-based training approach focusing on the learning outcomes and mastery learning.

Robust and reliable â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;qualification assessment systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that assures the quality of assessment, fair and reliable system with qualified, trained and accredited assessors.

Recognition aspect of awarded NVQs is assured based on intensive dialogues, interactions, and workshops among federal, provincial, and local level NVQS stakeholders that includes government bodies (ministries, departments, government financed independent bodies), industry and business associations, subject matter experts. Subject matter experts from different sectors and occupations are the key informants and technical inputs provider for NVQS.

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Examples from other countries in support of good relations between qualifications and work Most of the countries seem to have made considerable achievements in their TVET systems. There were good systems of provision in place, and a sense of dedication and commitment from providers and government institutions. Much seems to have been achieved through strong government support for provision, and development of curricula and assessment systems to support implementation of the qualifications framework. Only in France, where labour markets were the most regulated and collective bargaining had the widest reach, were there clear relationships between qualifications and work. There was some indication of relationships between qualification levels and work in Tunisia, and an attempt to introduce such relationships in the public sector in Sri Lanka; Allais, S. (2010).

Conclusions National qualifications frameworks based on learning outcomes, competence statements, or occupational standards continue to be introduced by governments who want to raise skill levels; improve the relationships between education, training, and work, particularly in terms of ensuring that training Employment systems meet the needs of industry; reform education and training systems; and improve qualifications systems.

Hence, it can be concluded that Vocational Qualifications Framework (VQF) is an Instrument to enhance employment, income, and job quality.

Becauseâ&#x20AC;Ś

Income

Job quality

Figure 4: Relationship between employment, income and job quality

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

VQF provides mobility and permeability among various streams of education system including recognition of prior learning.  VQF acts as a systemic framework that enhances learner’s competencies and leads him/her to “World of Decent Work”. World of Decent Work generates income and improves the quality of job/life.

VQF reflects the trilateral relationship between employment, income and job quality as shown in Figure 4.

References Added value of National Qualifications Frameworks in Implementing the EQF, (2010).

Allais, S. (2010). The Implementation and Impact of Qualifications Frameworks: Report of a study in 16 countries. Geneva: International Labour Office.

Allais, S. (2017). Labour market impact of National Qualification Frameworks in six countries Clark, A. (1998). What Makes a Good Job? Evidence from OECD Countries Global National Qualifications Framework Inventory Prepared for ASEM Education Ministers Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 13-14 May (2013) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_education https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/top-7-qualities-employers-are-looking-candidates/ National Qualifications Framework of Pakistan, (2015) National Vocational Qualifications System of Nepal: A Guiding Document, NVQS (2018) Qualification Frameworks in the Asia-Pacific Region, APQN Project No. 2 Ron, T. (2007). An Introductory Guide to National Qualifications Frameworks: Conceptual and Practical Issues for Policy Makers (2011) The National Qualifications Framework for Skills Training Reform in Sri Lanka, ADB (2011)

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Article 06 Needed Innovative Practices among Public Private Partnership Stakeholders in Technical and Vocational Education for Enhancing Skill Training of the Underprivileged Raymond Emmanuel1, Ajunwa Joseph2, & Mohd Aminu Mohd3 1&2 Department of Industrial and Technology Education, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria 3 National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Abuja-Nigeria

Abstract The study determined innovative practices in accessing and mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training of the underprivileged. Two research question and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study employed descriptive survey research design. Random Sampling was employed to select 30 respondents that consisted of 10 Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) administrators and 20 TVE private partners in Niger State, Nigeria. A 18-item structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. To ensure the validity of the instrument it was subjected to content validity by three TVE experts after which their suggestions and corrections were reflected on the final copy of the instrument that was used for data collection. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was established to be 0.89 using Cronbach Alpha formula. Data collected was analyzed using mean for research questions and t-test for hypotheses. Results revealed 10 innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training of the underprivileged and 8 innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged. Finding on innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training are: periodic mobile technical and vocational education training for rural and remote populations, identify and recognizing philanthropist that are encouraged to reduce pressure on TVE public funding by paying for expansion of enrollments of the underprivileged with national honours as TVE ambassador, establishment of TVE internet equipped advert centre where potential TVE work force

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(graduates) can be advertised to the world locally and internationally via the web amongst others while innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training include: giving citizens the opportunity to reflect on the impact of TVE by adapting a publicity mechanism that provides update on the development, activities and achievement of TVE, introduction of open-distance TVE training for the informal sector to be operated in short modular programme format and building demand side financing by introducing specific work competency skill training that is based on entrepreneurs demand and training cost indirectly funded through collection of levies from such enterprises. It is recommended that both government and private TVE operators should adapt the findings on innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training and innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training in order to revamp TVE in Niger State.

Keywords: Education; Technical and Vocational Education; Skill; Skill Training; Public Private Partnership; Underprivileged Introduction With no doubt, education is an instrument for national development. It is essential tool for economics, social, cultural and political development (Olibie & Enueme, 2013).

More so, it is a known fact that the economy of a nation does not depend solely on the general education but on education system cable of producing skilled workers that can handle the rapidly changing demands of the labour market. In response to this awareness, the Federal government of Nigeria introduced the system of education that is cable of availing its recipient relevant operational skills for economic development which is Technical and Vocational Education.

Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) is the study of technologies and related sciences as well as the acquisition of practical skills necessary for employment. Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2014) define TVE as a comprehensive term referring to the educational process that involves, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical skill and knowledge relating to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life. Individuals who received TVE training are armed with self or sellable skills and knowledge that will

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enable them secure employment either by establishing a small-scale business outfit or by being gainfully employed so that through the activities of such individuals the country can attain economic and technological development (Kehinde and Adewuyi, 2015). Hence, TVE involves the acquisition of skills and competencies that can help individuals to function productively in industrial and commercial occupations. This implies that the emphasis of TVE is skills training.

Skill is the ability to do something expertly in accordance to set standard or instruction. Skills are acquired through deliberate, systematic and sustained effort to effectively and adaptively carryout a job function involving cognitive, technical or interpersonal ideas (Ekahe, 2014). Uzouagulu (2009) defined skills as an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capacity to control elements of behaviour, thinking and feeling within specified contents and within a particular task domain. Skills training therefore can be defined as organised activities aimed at imparting specific TVE ideas to improve job performance.

TVE skill training presents advancing potentials that are required to harness the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic and technological developmental needs. Regrettably, concerns have been expressed on the glaring inadequacy in TVE in meeting the 21st Century manpower industrial needs of the nation. For instance less than 1% of secondary education in Nigeria is oriented towards technical and vocational skills. Likewise workshops for TVE skills training at tertiary institutions of learning are showcases of dumps of outdated and obsolete machines, equipment and tools (Okoye and Okwelle, 2013). This unfortunate situation is majorly attributed to inadequate funding of TVE by the government. Consequently, there is unprecedented prevalence of unemployment, poverty, hunger, insurgency and several other forms of social vices looming the country today (Kehinde and Adewuyi, 2015). Nevertheless, since poor access and inadequate funding has been one of a major and long standing challenges facing TVE skill training in Nigeria, it therefore call for measures to circumvent the challenges. The quest for better measures necessitated the Private Public Partnership.

Private Public Partnership (PPP) is a voluntary alliance amongst various actors from different sectors whereby they agree to work together to reach a common goal or fulfill a specific need that involves shared risks, responsibilities and competencies (World Economic Forum, 2005). Afolabi (2011) explained that PPP is a partnership

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arrangement formed between the public and private sectors partners that concerns involving the private sectors in the development, ownership, operation and financing of public facilities or services. In this partnership, public and private resources are pooled together and with due delegation of responsibilities with the aim of complementing the efforts of partners. The essence of PPP in TVE is to enhance skill training by encouraging private sectors partners to advance TVE training project in areas of infrastructure development, provisions of laboratory and workshop equipment, machines and tools, through making substantial cash or equity investment.

Furthermore, to keep pace with the emerging technological breakthroughs around the globe individuals are being challenged to pick up responsibilities for constructing their own carriers through developing relevant skills for the present day work places which have increased the demand for TVE by the teaming Nigeria populace. In effect, the rising demand for contemporary work place skills have over stretched the usage of the available and outdated TVE training facilities (Edokpolor and Imafidon, 2017). Due to the growing pressure to find new work place skills, the volume of the available TVE skill training and development facilities are inadequate. Since providing these skills training facilities to the volume required to meeting the growing Nigeria pollution is beyond that which the government alone can handle PPP was use as a measure of partnership in order to help provide such public sector assets and services that can meet the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population skill training needs (Education International, 2009). With support from private sector partners, the PPP has a major role of enhancing the development of workforce skills training among youths with target for the underprivileged.

The underprivileged are persons not enjoying the same living standard or rights as the majority of people in the society (Rodriguez, 2014). These category of persons are seen as people who have inadequate for self-sufficiency (Akinbobola and Saibu, 2004).

In Niger State, Nigeria, a significant feature of this group of people have a large household with many dependent children whose income cannot afford them adequate education and other necessities of life. More so the Minister of education acknowledged that the rate of illiteracy in the country is on the increase with about 65â&#x20AC;&#x201C;75 million illiterates and over 10.5 million of these people who cannot afford

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education dropped out of school (Vanguard, 2017). Today, these set of people roam the streets harassing citizen and perpetrating crimes since they have no saleable skill capable of gaining them self or paid employment. Thus it is glaring that despite government and PPP effort in ensuring better employment opportunities by enhancing skill training of the citizens particularly the underprivileged through the introduction of free basic education and modular skills training programmes, the underprivileged youths still lack relevant employability skills (Atsumbe, Okoro and Ogwo, 2012).

Zaman (2015) attributes the lack of employability skills amongst underprivileged to lack of access to skills acquisition, inadequate resources for mobilization and poor funding of skill training. To adequately ensure better employment opportunities of the underprivileged through enhancement of skill training the Asian Development Bank (2014) and UNESCO-UNEVOC (2017) suggest adoption of innovative practices such that will reduce barriers to entry/expansion of TVE and increase provision of TVE lifelong learning resources. In this regard, ensuring employment opportunity of the underprivileged requires stakeholders enhancing TVE skill training among underprivileged through adaption of innovative practices for TVE provision. It is against this background that it becomes necessary to determine needed innovative practices among public private partnership stakeholders in technical and vocational education for enhancing skill training of the underprivileged in Nigeria particularly in Niger State.

Objective of the Study 1. To determine the innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training of the underprivileged 2. To determine the innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged.

Research Question 1. What are the innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged?

2. What are the innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged?

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Hypotheses HO1: There is no significant difference between TVE administrators and private partners regarding innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged.

HO2: There is no significant difference between TVE administrators and private partners regarding innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged.

Methodology The study employed descriptive survey research design. The study was conducted in Niger State, Nigeria. The population of the study which was drawn from Technical Colleges (TC) and private TVE partners was 30 respondents. The instrument that was used for the collection of data was a structured questionnaire consisting of 10 items on innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training of the underprivileged and 8 items on innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged. The questionnaire was subjected to content validation in order to ensure that the instrument elicit the information they were designed for. Copies of the draft questionnaire were given to three TVE experts from the department of industrial and technology education, Federal University of Technology, Minna-Nigeria. The suggestions and corrections made by these experts were reflected on the final copy of the instrument. After which a pilot test of the instrument was carried out on two TVE administrators and three private partners in Government Technical College, Garki, Abuja and the reliability coefficient of the instrument was established to be 0.89 using Cronbach Alpha formula.

A Four Point Rating Scale with the following response scale: Strongly Agree (SA) = 4, Agree (A) = 3, Disagree (D) = 2, Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1 was employed as response options. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation statistics for the research questions while t-test was used for the hypotheses. For determining which innovative practice is required or not required a cutoff mean of 2.50 interpreted in relative to the 4-point rating scale was set as decision rule.

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Table 1: Innovative Practices in Improving Access to Technical and Vocational Skill Training S/ N

1

2

3

4

Innovative Practices in Improving Access to Technical and Vocational Skills Training Introduction of community based short and modular courses open distance skills training Periodic mobile TVE training to rural and remote populations Recognizing philanthropist that are encouraged to reduce pressure on (TVE) public funding by paying for expansion of enrollments of the underprivileged with national honours as TVE ambassador.

Development of a counterpart financial mechanism targeted at allocating resources to the underprivileged that enroll for TVE training with the aim of easing up their transportation challenges by paying their basic transportation allowances.

X1

SD1

X2

SD2

Xt

SDt

Dec.

3.40

0.52

3.30

0.73

3.33

0.66

Agree

3.00

0.88

2.95

0.82

2.97

0.81

Agree

3.60

0.52

2.85

0.67

3.10

0.71

Agree

3.10

0.56

3.25

0.72

3.20

0.66

Agree

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6

7

8

9

Increased collaboration between TVE and employers of labour to sought for employment avenue for as many underprivileged undertaking TVE training in order to ensure their direct employment at completion of training.

Develop an employment mechanism that will increase the employment of female underprivileged graduate in lucrative public and private TVE occupations.

Establishment of TVE internet equipped advert centre where potential TVE work force (graduates) can be advertised to the world locally and internationally via the web Establishment of TVE rehabilitation centres to rehabilitate and afterward train underprivileged school dropped outs that became traumatized/drug addicts Establishment of Low Cost skills upgrade TVE retraining centre for upgrading individuals skills to match skills obtainable in the 21st century work place so as to enable

| 104 3.20

0.42

3.30

0.47

3.27

0.45

Agree

3.80

0.42

3.55

0.60

3.63

0.56

Agree

3.40

0.69

3.00

0.56

3.13

0.63

Agree

3.70

0.48

3.10

0.78

3.30

0.75

Agree

3.10

0.56

3.50

0.61

3.37

0.62

Agree

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0.52

3.05

0.76

3.17

0.69

0.5 6

3.19

0.67

3.25

0.65

Agree

Table 1 present innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training. The result revealed that the average mean ratings of the items range from 2.97 to 3.63. The standard deviation of the items ranges between 0.45 and 0.81. This indicates that the mean responses of the respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; do not deviate from each other.

This standard deviation therefore added validity to the mean. This indicates that the respondents agreed that these items are innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training since all the items have means above the threshold mean of 2.5.

Table 2: Innovative Practices in Mobilizing Resources for Technical and Vocational Skills Training S/ N

1

Innovative Practices in X1 Mobilizing Resources for Technical and Vocational Skills Training Increase existing TVE training 2.90 centres income generation autonomy by encouraging them to ensure that every practical section is targeted at developing or producing household or industrial equipment or item that are marketable

SD1

0.74

X2

2.70

SD2

0.73

Xt

2.77

SDt

Dec

0.73

Agree

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3

4

5

6

7

Building demand side financing by introducing specific work competency skill training that is based on entrepreneurs demand and training cost indirectly funded through collection of levies from such enterprises Introduction of open-distance TVE training for the informal sector to be operated in short modular programme format Attach TVE charge condition to every TVE financial transfer or service purchase transaction Establishment of fund generation TVE international cooperation centre where TVE experts from around the world could come and hold periodic public skills acquisition seminars and conferences Establishment of a separate training fund account where philanthropists can contribute willingly to the course of TVE Give citizens the opportunity to reflect on the impact of TVE by adapting a publicity mechanism that provides

| 106 2.90

0.57

3.15

0.81

3.07

0.74

Agree

3.60

0.69

3.15

0.59

3.30

0.65

Agree

2.90

0.32

3.15

0.37

3.07

0.37

Agree

3.60

0.52

3.55

0.51

3.57

0.50

Agree

3.30

0.67

3.25

0.72

3.27

0.69

Agree

2.90

0.74

3.55

0.69

3.33

0.76

Agree

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update about the development, activities and achievement of TVE 8 Community and 3.30 neighbourhood mobilization advocacy targeted at increasing TVE class sizes that are below class average and increase teaching load by employing specialized parttime instructors for public schools Grand Mean 3.1 8

0.68

3.10

0.55

3.17

0.59

0.6 2

3.20

0.62

3.19

0.54

Agree

Contained in Table 2 are innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training. The result revealed that the average mean ratings of the items range from 2.77 to 3.57 with items number 5, 3, and 6 having the highest mean which are 3.57, 3.33 and 3.27 respectively. The standard deviation of the items ranges between 0.37 and 0.76. This indicates that the mean responses of the respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; do not deviate from each other. This standard deviation therefore added validity to the mean. This result indicates that the respondents agreed that these items are innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training since all the items have means are above 2.50 cutoff mean.

Table 3: t-test Analysis of Innovative Practices in Improving Access to Technical and Vocational Skill Training Group

N

Mean Difference

Standar d Error Differen ce

t-calc.

df.

ttable

Decisio n

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1.50

1.94 0.77

20

1.50

28

2.01

1.79

H0: Not Sign.

Contained in Table 3 is the t-test analysis of innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training. The table revealed t-calculated value to be 0.77.

Since 0.77 t-calculated values is less than 2.01 table value at 0.05Îą df28, the null hypothesis is hence upheld. This result shows there is no significant difference between TC administrators and TVE private partners regarding innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged.

Table 4: t-test Analysis of Innovative Practices in Mobilizing Resources for Technical and Vocational Skill Training Group

N

TVE 10 Administrators Private Partners 20

Mean Difference -0.20

Standard Error Difference 1.67

t-calc. df.

ttable

-0.21

2.01

28

Deci sion

H0: -0.20 1.67 Not Sign.

Table 4 presents the t-test analysis of innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training. The table revealed t-calculated value to be -0.21.

Since -0.21 t-calculated values is less than 2.01 table value at 0.05Îą df28, the null hypothesis is hence upheld. Thus there is no significant difference between TVE administrators and private partners regarding innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged.

Discussion Findings of the study contained in Table 1 are innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training. Innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training are introduction of community based short and

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modular courses open distance skills training, periodic mobile TVE training to rural and remote populations, recognition of philanthropist that are encouraged to reduce pressure on (TVE) public funding by paying for expansion of enrollments of the underprivileged with national honours as TVE ambassador, development of a counterpart financial mechanism targeted at allocating resources to the underprivileged that enroll for TVE training with the aim of easing up their transportation challenges by paying their basic transportation allowances, increased collaboration between TVE and employers of labour to sought for employment avenue for as many underprivileged undertaking TVE training in order to ensure their direct employment at completion of training, development of an employment mechanism that will increase the employment of underprivileged female TVE trained graduate in lucrative public and private TVE occupations, establishment of TVE internet equipped advert centre where potential TVE work force (graduates) can be advertised to the world locally and internationally via the web, establishment of TVE rehabilitation centres to rehabilitate and afterward train underprivileged school dropped outs that became traumatized/drug addicts, establishment of Low Cost skills upgrade TVE retraining centre for upgrading individuals skills to match skills obtainable in the 21st century work place so as to enable them to be into the labour market and promotion of lifelong enterprise-based competency skill training.

Owing to the awareness that Technical and Vocational skill training provide the bedrock for the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic development, a proactive measure for accessing TVE particularly by the teaming underprivileged who consist of a good number of the population of Niger State become necessary. Since the underprivileged lack the basic advantage for accessing TVE like other members of the society, innovative practices such as the ones mentioned earlier are proffered practices for improving the underprivileged access to technical and vocational skill training. The identified practices agree with Asian Development Bank (2014) view that suggested increased participation in skill development through the instrumentation of diversification of publicity and training types and increased public funding. Additionally the result of the t-test analysis presented in Table 3 that revealed a no significant difference between respondents responses regarding innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skills training of the underprivileged is affirmation that the respondents

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unanimously agreed the outcome of this finding are innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skills training.

Finding presented in Table 2 revealed eight innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training. The innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training are increase existing TVE training centres income generation autonomy by encouraging them to ensure that every practical section is targeted at developing or producing household or industrial equipment or item that can are marketable, building demand side financing by introducing specific work competency skill training that is based on entrepreneurs demand and training cost indirectly funded through collection of levies from such enterprises, introduction of open-distance TVE training for the informal sector to be operated in short modular programme format, attach TVE charge condition to every TVE financial transfer or service purchase transaction, establishment of fund generation TVE international cooperation centre where TVE experts from around the world could come and hold periodic public skills acquisition seminars and conferences, establishment of a separate training fund account where philanthropists can contribute willingly to the course of TVE, give citizens the opportunity to reflect on the impact of TVE by adapting a publicity mechanism that provides update on the development, activities and achievement of TVE and community and neighbourhood mobilization advocacy targeted at increasing TVE class sizes that are below class average and increase teaching load by employing specialized part-time instructors for public schools.

Over the years, providing technical and vocational skill training to Nigerian has experienced a long time funding challenge that has restrained the growth of TVE in Nigeria and Niger State in particular. In turn this has put pressure on the need to proffer innovative way through which resources can be mobilized for skill training. The emerging results on this finding which include building demand side financing by introducing specific work competency skill training that is based on entrepreneurs demand and training cost indirectly funded through collection of levies from such enterprises, introduction of open-distance TVE training for the informal sector to be operated in short modular programme format, attach TVE charge condition to every

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TVE financial transfer or service purchase transaction amongst others are innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training. This result concord Asian Development Bank (2014) and UNESCO-UNEVOC (2017) who opined that the basic innovative approach to mobilizing resources for skill training is by raising more resources through support from organization or private individuals or ensuring a better use of existing resources either by increasing output for the same costs, or achieving the same output for less cost. Furthermore, t-test analysis on innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training presented in Table 4 that reveal a no significance difference affirmed that the opinion of both respondents does not differ regarding innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training.

Conclusion The study provide innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training and practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skill training. Basically the study established that to revamp TVE through improved enrollment and funding in Niger State and Nigeria at large there is need for adoption of innovative practices such that will improve access and resource mobilization for technical and vocational skill training through adoption of a more proactive awareness creation approach on the activities and achievement of TVE, encouragement of open distance competency skill training, diversification of skill training by seeking collaboration of organization and individual partners and building demand side financing by introducing specific work competency skill training that is based on entrepreneurs demand and training cost funded by such entrepreneurs. It is hence recommended that in order to revamp TVE in Niger State, on innovative practices in improving access to technical and vocational skill training and innovative practices in mobilizing resources for technical and vocational skills training be employed.

References Afolabi, Q.E. (2011). Examining public private partnership in Nigeria: Potentials and challenges. Retrieved from https://nairametrics.com/wp...

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Akinbobola, T. O., & Saibu M. O. O. (2004). Income inequality, unemployment and poverty in Nigeria: a vector autoregressive. The Journal of Policy Reform, 7(4), 175-183.

Asian Development Bank. (2014). Innovative strategies in technical and vocational education and training: For accelerated human resource development. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org Collins Dictionary. (2018). Underprivileged. Retrieved from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/underprivileged.

Ekahe, A. F. (2014). Self-employment skills possessed by business education students of colleges of education for sustainable development in cross river state, Nigeria (Unpublished masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thesis). Department of Vocational Teacher Education, University of Nigeria.

English Oxford Dictionaries. (2018). Underprivileged. Retrieved from https://en.oxfordictionaires.com/definition/underprivileged Kehinde, T. M., & Adewuyi, L. A. (2015). Vocational and technical education: A variable tool for transformation of the Nigerian economy. International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education Research, 1(2), 22-31.

Muriel, D. (2013). Enhancing the private sector in skills development. HEART (Health & Education Advice and Resource Team) a consortium of 8 Partners: Oxford Policy Management, CFBT, IDS (Institute of Development Studies), HERA, FHI360, Ipact, University of Leeds and LSTM (Liverpool School of Tropical medicine).

Okoye, K. R. E., & Okwelle, P. C. (2013). Private-public partnership and technical vocational education and training in a developing economy. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 2(10), 51-61.

Olibie, E. I., & Enueme, C. P. (2013). Inequalities in Nigerian education sector: Some perspectives for improvement. Journal of Research & Method in Education, 3(6), 7-14.

Rodriguez, N. (2014). Who are underprivileged? Retrieved on 9 August, 2019 from https://www.chronicle.com/article/Who-Are-You-Calling/146719 UNESCO-UNEVOC. (2017). Diversifying the sources of funding for TVET. Retrieved from https://unevoc.unesco.org/up/vc_finance_background.pdf

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Vanguard. (2017). Illiteracy rate in Nigeria alarming. Retrieved from https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/09/illiteracy-rate-nigeria-alarming-fg/ World Economic Forum. (2005). Building on the monterrey consensus: The growing role of public private partnerships in mobilizing resources for development. https://members.weforum.org/pdf/un_final_report.pdf Zaman, S. (2015). Employment linked skills training for underprivileged children and youth in Bangladesh. Journal of Socialomics, 4(2), 1-5.

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Article 07 Revitalizing Jiri Technical School in a Dramatically Changed Context: Governance, Management and Employability Agni Prasad Kafle1 & Hansruedi Pfeiffer2 1 Ex-Member Secretory, Council for Technical Educational and Vocational Training, Bhaktapur, Nepal 2 HELVETAS, Nepal Abstract This paper examines two hypotheses: First the question whether inadequate practical training, including much shortened apprenticeship training, has negatively affected the employability of graduates of technical education and vocational training (TVET) institutions in Nepal. Tracer studies and an institutional assessment of the Jiri Technical School (JTS) confirm that assumption. The second working hypothesis examined whether it is good institutional management and governance that provide the systems for quality training and positive labour market outcomes. The review of select literature on institution building and the benchmarking of JTSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; operative practices against those of high performing educational institutions (in India) confirmed that hypotheses. It is argued that poor management and governance of TVET institutions also risk mission drift of Technical Schools away from their initial socio-economic mandate, the provision of skilled manpower and access to qualification opportunities to the youth having the aptitudes for such an education. Social rather than labour market demand with corresponding politics is one major source and force for such deviations. It is proposed to bank on federalisation and professionalisation of board and management to revitalize JTS through action research providing good practices for adaptation and adoption by other TVET institutions in their own local and regional contexts.

Keywords: Jiri Technical School; Governance; Management; Employability

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Introduction: Some Critical Questions to the TVET Community Nepal has undergone dramatic changes over the last few decades, politically, demographically, environmentally, economically and socio-culturally. How did the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system fare in all these turbulences? How did – more specifically – the Jiri Technical School (JTS) do and adapt in this all too often erratic environment?

JTS as a “representative” of the rural (public) TVET system did have to cope with one area specific major incidence in 2015: A massive earthquake which destroyed the overwhelming part of its infrastructure. The same has been rebuilt only partially till the present day. But the organisation kept going, somehow, venturing into mostly “academically” advanced new diploma programs in the areas of agriculture and civil engineering. What has driven these changes? And who and how were they steered (controlled)?

If one thing remained pretty much the same over the last 20 – 30 years it has been “system’s expansion”, facilitated by a steady flow of development funding and sector liberalisation through the affiliation of large numbers of (private) training providers. Did all this pay off? Have steering decisions been taken based on results, needs and labour market demand in the context sketched above? Have the governance and management systems, their “institutionality” been fit and robust enough to make good use of the invested resources? Are there lessons to be learnt from the JTS for the (rural) TVET system more generally, and does the current drive for “federalisation” and more cooperative (or “dual”) training offer new and better opportunities for program steering, institutional strengthening and – ultimately – results such as (better paid) jobs?

These are some of the main questions this paper raises and attempts to look into.

They are derived from practices and “realities” we have been experiencing, observing and analysing in Nepal and the region more broadly. It is hoped that the (partial) answers we are attempting to give will be useful to TVET practices in Nepal. That is what an (international) conference should aim at, after all.

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Problem Statement and Working/Research Hypothesis The assumption underlying the provision of (costly) TVET is that it provides society and economy much needed skilled manpower – and the country’s youth access to decent jobs, better incomes and/or continuing education opportunities. Following primary and (lower) secondary education, only a small proportion of an age cohort can aspire for higher academic education. The majority needs to find its way into the job market, and TVET – complemented with counselling – is expected to effectively facilitate this transition. The comparative strength of a TVET institution – and the rational for its high (unit) costs - is that it provides the attitudes, practical skills and knowledge that employers seek (or the challenges of an independent income generating activity / life of an entrepreneur demands). Employability of a Technical School graduate is therefore a critical result a TVET institution must achieve to live up to its mandate. Practical training, real world of work experience and knowledge and attitudes that are useful in this world are the type of educational experiences that an institution such as JTS needs to provide on-site and in collaborative (“dual”) arrangements with employers. The fact that these job-related components and capacities have been reduced and weakened under changing CTEVT policies and prevailing operative practices in TVET institutions over the last years raises one key question mainly: Have these changes impacted negatively on the employability and labour market outcomes of JTS1 graduates? It is from this question that we derive the first research hypothesis of our analysis: Practical training, including apprenticeship training, has been weakened to the point where graduates have difficulties in finding jobs or earn an adequate income through selfemployment.

Our second research / working hypothesis is related with the first one: Only efficient and effective governance and management can assure the quality of training and hence the employability of Technical School graduates. The background to this hypothesis is the rich experience and literature existing on the building of educational institutions (Shah, 1

While our analysis focuses on JTS, this institution can be considered as one representative (or “model”) of a substantial number of institutions - public and private - engaged in the training of ANMs, JTAs and Sub-Overseers across Nepal. Many of its framework conditions and operational parameters (such as curricula, student admission processes, practical and theoretical content of programs, funding etc.) will be the same across the TVET system. Findings and insights gained – and recommendations for improvement made – may therefore have systemic relevance (and not be valid for JTS alone).

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1999) and lessons learnt from many a development project with an aim to enhance the performance and introduce innovations in technical training institutions by providing various types of inputs (such as staff training, equipment, facilitation services for industry links etc.). Rao T.V. et al (1999) have shown – for a large SDC/Word Bank funded project in India supporting almost 40 technical education institutions – what many a TVET development professional has observed in Nepal and elsewhere: Better governance and management of an institution provide for much better development results and the genuine institutionalisation of innovations such as institute – industry linkages. Strategically steering and operationally managing TVET institutions at the interface of the worlds of education and work is challenging under any circumstances – but much more so in a context like (rural) Nepal over the last two to three decades.

Methodology A review of practice-oriented literature focused on the importance of “institutions” in development, on institution building and innovation in (technical) education, and on publicly available material on TVET in Nepal, including two tracer studies. Shah’s (adapted) institution building model in Annex 1 and criteria of operative practices in high performing (educational) institutions were used as a background for an analysis of the JTS. A visit in Jiri allowed for observations, in-depth interviews and group discussions with community leaders, board (School Management Committee, SMC) members, management, teachers and students. This was complemented with a SWOT analysis with the JTS management and teachers and interviewing a group of alumni (TSLC graduates of the last three years; Diploma graduates of the last two years years) and a group of employer representatives of the three trades.

Key Findings in Five Messages and their Discussion Basic information on alumni is hard to come by, not to mention information on the employability and employment status of graduates. Our findings on the outcomes of programs under CTEVT - including JTS - draw on two tracer studies (CTEVT / Acin, 2016 and LaPalma, 2015, for JTS) and on interviews and focus group discussions with trainees, alumni and employers.

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Many of our observations following here below on governance, program developments in Technical Schools, trainee selection, growth of self-employment opportunities etc. need to be interpreted on the background of the wide and deep developments that have taken place in Nepal over the last two to three decades in the political, demographic and socio-economic domains, which went along with a growing politization of education policies and bureaucracies, the “marketisation” of agriculture and TVET provision, and construction activities fuelled by remittance flows.

Against this backdrop, we summarise the findings of our research for the purpose of this paper in five messages, each one complemented with a brief discussion.

The employment situation of graduates of Diploma and TSCL programs under CTEVT is worrying and not what one must expect from a TVET program The national CTEVT/Acin (2016) survey analysed graduates of the academic year 2013 from eight TSLC and from eight Diploma programs. From among the employers interviewed, 2.86% only were from the agriculture and construction sectors, none from manufacturing (hence, almost 80% were from the health and social service sectors). Both public and private (affiliated) training institutions were included in the sample. Between six and up to twenty months after training completion2, 49% of graduates were employed (51% of Diploma and 47% of TSLC holders). In Health, ANM’s were found to increasingly being replaced by staff nurses. Income levels of the employed were generally found to be good. Self-employment in agriculture yielded the best incomes. Both alumni and employers reported “inadequate practical opportunities in the training institutions, especially in private institutions”. Additional “workplace 2

The periods graduates had been unemployed after their training at the time of data collection are not easy to gauge from the CTEVT / Acin study. The same was published in 2016, analysing the employment status of eight batches Diploma and TSLC holders each who graduated in the academic year (August) 2013. Data collection seems to (at least partly) have taken place after the earthquake 2015, that is approx. 19 months after graduation of the target graduates. On the other hand, the study report indicates employment searching periods of target graduates of six and nine months only at the time of information and data collection. Important for data interpretation however is also the prevailing general situation in Nepal in 2015, i.e. the earthquake, border blockages and an extreme recession. But all that does not change the overall finding of employment rates much below “acceptable levels” (CTEVT / Acin, 2016, page 2).

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training packages”, industrial attachments, linkages with employers and the job-market more generally, “functional placement and counselling”, the revision of curricula and their effective implementation and monitoring (especially with respect to its practical parts), enhanced workshops, adequate equipment and tools are among the main observations and recommendations of the study.

Employment rates below 50% six to twenty months after graduation are highly problematic for a TVET program; quantitative system’s expansion does not seem to pay off. And TSLC trainees/holders seem to risk of being crowded out by Diploma students/holders (clearly the ANMs by staff nurses or Health Assistants), because of the on-going degradation of practical training capacities in Technical Schools and their programs (from much shortened apprenticeship and on-the-job training arrangements to dysfunctional workshops; the absence of essential tools and equipment to practically not well prepared and guided instructors). Centrally administered trainees’ selection (are Technical Schools getting “the right trainees”?) and the growth of Diploma programs increasingly dominating institutional training cultures are added factors impacting on the Technical Schools’ abilities to achieve the employability of their graduates. The low performance of private training providers raises questions as to the relevance and reliability of the affiliation system.

JTS graduates of TSLC programs seem to be doing better. But the practical parts of the trainings have been heavily curtailed The JTS tracer study (La Palma, 2015) is differently designed compared with the CTEVT /Acin (2016) study. A sample of 512 (TSLC only) graduates was drawn from almost 3000 alumni of the school’s first 29 batches. Although the initially strong local/regional focus (“training the youth below SLC of five districts surrounding Jiri and training them for job opportunities in these districts”) softened over the years, not least due to centrally administered trainees’ selection, the majority of the students (and even more so the alumni included in the study sample) continue to come from and work in today’s Provinces No. 1 and 3. Other major differences of the JTS tracer study compared with the CTEVT / Acin (2016) study is that it did not cover employers. The main findings and recommendations then with relation to our first research hypothesis are the following: 88% of the TSLC graduates surveyed were

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employed (86% of them in the public sector, which is attributable largely to the specific service orientation of the trades taught). 96% of the TSLC-holders employed are satisfied with their job. The highest unemployment rates were found in agriculture.

The few (23) graduates in self-employment were engaged in the construction industry, which was also paying the highest salaries according to this study. The OJT (on-thejob-training) programs were highly rated and found to be useful in preparing graduates for employment. Among the highest ranked suggestions to improve the school’s programs are curriculum and workshop upgradation and the improvement of practical training. The study author also underlines the importance of an alumni data base – and regular tracing studies.

That JTS would perform better with respect to the employability of its alumni who graduated between 1988 and 2014 can – we assume - be attributed to its public sector status and funding (which is in line with the findings of the CTEVT / Acin (2016) study), its exclusive focus on TSLC holders, and the substantial aid it has received in its initial years. One version of what is called OJT training in the study was operated as a full year “apprenticeship training” (APT) during the school’s initial years for all the three trades. However, the APT was gradually reduced from one year to 6 months OJTs for the TSLC in agriculture and in construction and from 18 months APT to a 3 months OJT for the TSLC in Health (ANM). Diploma students have a 3 months OJT (agriculture) or project work in Jiri only (construction). Block type of OJTs (internships with employers) conducted during the first, school-based years of a program have also been reduced over time, for ANMs, for example. The tracer study on JTS does not differentiate its findings over time; in other words, it does not allow us to draw firm conclusions on the extent cutting OJTs and APTs has negatively impacted on the (later years) graduates’ employability.

The findings of the CTEVT / Acin (2016) and JTS (LaPalma, 2015) tracer studies have subsequently been complemented by an institutional assessment of the Jiri Technical School (para 4.3 to 4.5).

The indications that the TVET system does not prepare trainees for the world of work are strong, from all the sources analysed. Employers, alumni, trainees and staff unanimously state that practical training is inadequate.

They confirm our first research hypothesis.

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The messages provided by the tracer studies referred to above were confirmed in the interviews and focus group discussions the authors of this paper conducted with both Diploma and TSLC-course trainees, staff and local leaders (including the heads of Government hospital and farm) during an institutional assessment conducted of JTS in Jiri in April 2019, but also in follow-up interviews with Diploma and TSLC alumni and (construction) employers. There is a high degree of unanimity and urgency across all sources with which the weaknesses of practical training and the limitations of real world-of-work experiences were described. Additional elements from the JTS assessment that are worth to be added here are: Self-employment skills and entrepreneurship are missed by trainees who show a growing interest – or are forced into - self-employment for lack of alternatives. Observations on the school-site showed run-down or abandoned workshops. And JTS still suffers from the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake, with continued shortage of teaching and accommodation facilities.

Visits and interviews with near-by employers (potentially) offering hands-on training opportunities and with community leaders provided indications that linkages and cooperation with these stakeholders are weak and not systematic.

Running TVET programs for employable qualifications on-site and in collaboration with stakeholders from the world of work poses high demands on an institutional management.

Experience and literature (Rao, T.V., 1999 and Shah, 1999) demonstrate that training institutions that excel in the provision of manpower with employable skills and client-oriented services (enterprises, farmers, the community) are well managed and governed. What then are their operational practices, and how do those compare with JTS? JTS’ operating practices are far off the benchmark of a high performing educational institution. And yet, it has strongly been expanding its Diploma programs Annex 2 provides an overview covering seven performance areas that are critical for an (higher) educational institution’s performance. The differences between the characteristics of a “high performer” and JTS are striking and probably valid for most of the public sector Technical Schools. The benchmark is justified not least due to JTS’s own vision to be a “centre of excellence”.

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Some of the most salient features of the overview in Annex 2 are: • A high level of centralisation in the management (and governance) of Technical Schools – which seems to have grown over time; • Staff policies leaving little or no space to select, promote, incentivise, develop, least so by the local management; • There does not seem to be a transparent rational, strategy and (participatory) process for the (development of the) current and future portfolio of products (programs) and services (to the community, for example). Evidence from the labour market (employability) does not seem to be a driver of program development; • Lack of clarity and uncertainty regarding roles, functions, responsibilities, processes etc. at several levels, including the board/strategic steering level (School Management Committee, SMC); • Heavily damaged, poorly maintained and managed infrastructure; master plan for reconstruction not based on future program strategy; • Unclear funding policies, partly due to on-going federalisation processes. Local earnings drawn to the centre; • Management and operation: Not geared towards (labour market) results and cooperation with employers, including OJT and APT partners; oriented towards targets of central Government; unclear interests driving Diploma program expansion.

The inadequacy of practical training, resulting in lowered levels of training quality overall and a degradation of the employability of graduates, must be understood as a result of the school’s poor operative performance and practices – which is again linked to the institution’s management and governance system (our second working hypothesis).

On-site observations demonstrated a changing organisational and training culture and practices. This is due substantially to the introduction of 3-year Diploma programs for SLC passed students in JTS (in agriculture in 2014 and in construction in 2019). Diploma programs have, by design, a practical content of 20% only, while TSCL programs are expected to have a practical content of 80%. Expansion is meant to continue with agro-forestry and nursing programs at Diploma and a surveying program at TSLC levels planned in a draft 5year plan. This would bring the total student population to over 500, with the share of TSLC trainees falling below 30%. Hence, the drive for quantitative expansion, “academisation” of

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the program portfolio and crowding out of TSLC graduates referred to under 4.1 can also be observed in JTS. Strong incentives seem at work to make the institution a “Diploma campus or Polytechnic”. While the TVET discourse in Nepal is unanimous that the sector is meant to be driven largely by labour market needs and demand, the question is whether it has not been social demand and “politics” driving student intake and programming in Technical Schools with the strong politization of the education sector starting in the 1990s. That raises the question on how Technical Schools have been or should be governed, who and how their orientation should be determined – especially under the emerging federalisation scenario of Nepal. Sound institutional management with good operative practices and an able, respected and locally as well as professionally anchored board are key factors to determine a training institution’s direction and performance in terms of quality training and employability of its graduates.

Relaunching and re-vitalizing JTS, capitalising on the opportunities of federalisation, may re-set the priorities and direction of the school, foster good operative practices and thereby achieve training quality for better employability and labour market results TVET service providers’ main function is to introduce women and men into gainful employment and build the “human capital” needed for socio-economic development. Going by available evidence (notably the CTEVT / Acin tracer study, 2016, but also strong tendencies in JTS), that function is not well fulfilled. Technical Schools, with JTS as an example, have, considering institution building theory, not really become institutions yet. “According to Perlmutter, … an institution … is characterised by three attributes: [a] Its functions and services are related to society’s commonly agreed requirements …; [b] Its internal structures embody and protect commonly held norms … of the society to which it is related; and [c] its achievements over time have included influencing the environment in positive ways…”

(Perlmutter, in Shah, 1999). Over the last twenty years it was mainly politics and (central) bureaucrats that have determined the course of action, excluding or reducing to a large extent the role of stakeholders of the world of work and professionals committed to the training and employment needs of those large parts of society for whom practically oriented technical education and vocational training is of interest and offers them an opportunity for decent jobs and continuing education opportunities.

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A new TVET act following Nepal’s federalisation policies may provide the opportunity to pursue a re-launch practice that high performing institutions invariably follow: “…to ensure that (JTS has a) interested, respected, autonomous and selfperpetuating governance structure (Board / School Management Committee) with members drawn from a cross-section of their stakeholder groups and interested publics” (Shah, 1999). Such a board would need to bring the worlds of education and work much more closely together again, anchor the organisation in the emerging federal structure (Provinces and local municipalities, Gau Palikas), evolve an evidence based, impact oriented strategy and ascertain a performance oriented management and operation of the school.

Conclusions and Outlook Shortened training programs - notably much cut down on-the-job training (OJT) and apprenticeship (APT) components - and the strong expansion of Diploma courses under CTEVT institutions have substantially contributed to the degradation of training quality and the employability of TVET graduates of these institutions. Employment rates below 50% six to twenty months after graduation need the attention of policy makers and TVET system stakeholders for corrective action.

What is ironic is that with ENSSURE (Enhanced Skills for Sustainable and Rewarding Employment, Government of Nepal and SDC, 2015), the Ministry of Education launched a program for the promotion of OJT and APT trainings and a stronger cooperation with the private sector (or employers more generally) for better quality and employability in TVET. For this initiative to succeed over the long haul, the management and governance systems of TVET institutions, including their linkages and cooperation with the world of work, need to be much strengthened. Federalisation and professionalisation can create opportunities in that direction, including the engagement of those sections of society and the economy having a genuine interest in practically oriented TVET. JTS may be encouraged into an action research in that direction over the next few years, developing good practices for others to replicate, considering their own local and regional contexts3.

3

Such a pilot would need careful design, considering not only a new TVET act, but also on-going work for a Vocational Qualifications System, orientations and experiences of the ENSSURE project and

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Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. (2013). Why nations fail – The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty. London: Profile Books.

Acin (Accountability Initiative Pvt. Ltd.). (2016). Tracer study of the graduates of Diploma and TSLC programs under CTEVT. Lalitpur: CTEVT. Asian Development Bank. (2015). Innovative strategies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training, …. NEPAL. Manila: Author.

Government of Nepal. (2014). CTVT strategic plan (2014-2018). Kathmandu: Author.

Governments of Nepal and SDC. (2015). Project document … ENSSURE. Kathmandu: Authors.

Kafle, A. P. (2018). Getting there to revitalize JTS: A concept paper. Kathmandu and Jiri.

LaPalma J. (2015). Jiri Technical School: Tracer study Report. Jiri: Jiri Technical School.

Perlmutter, H. V. (1965). Towards a theory and practice of social architecture – The building of indispensable institutions. London: Tavistock.

Rao, T.V. et al. (1999). Institutionalisation of innovation in higher (technical) education – A research study of project IMPACT. New Delhi: SDC. Renold et al. (2019). Theoretical and methodological framework for measuring the robustness of social institutions in education and training (KOF Working Papers No. 461). Zurich: ETH Zurich.

Renold and Caves. (2017). Constitutional reform and its impact on TVET governance in Nepal (KOF Studies, No. 89). Zurich: ETH Zurich.

Shah, T. (1999). Launching … institutions of excellence: Lessons from 50 years of Indian experience in institution building (Policy School Working Paper). India: Anand.

SDC. (2018). Swiss cooperation strategy Nepal 2018-2021. Kathmandu: Author.

insights from the framework presented in Renold et al (2019) on (robust) social institutions in education and training.

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Annex 2: Jiri Technical Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Operative Practices Compared to High Performing Institutions (HPI)

(Adapted from Shah, 1999)

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Article 08 Financing of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Nepal Baikuntha Prasad Aryal Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Kathmandu, Nepal Abstract Considering Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector as an enabler for the socio-economic transformation of the nation, preparing competitive skilled human resources has become a worldwide priority, which has compelled to increase financing in TVET. Government of Nepal emphasizes TVET as a priority sector for the development of the country in the recent days. TVET governance has become a greater policy concern in Nepal mainly to address the constitutionally designated functions between three tiers of government as well as to establish a sustainable financing mechanism for better TVET service delivery. Policy makers and all relevant stakeholders should have clear and common understanding on the TVET and non-TVET services, hence a solid foundation of financing on TVET can be established.

Mixed methods approach was applied and secondary information, questionnaire, survey, and focused group discussion were administered to capture the current TVET financing domain from the federal line ministries. The study suggests that though the trend of budget allocation for TVET sector is highly correlated to the total national budget and total education budget, the actual allocation still seems significantly low to achieve the SDG4 targets and the government policy of quality expansion of TVET. The finding of this study reveals that TVET financing has been influenced mainly by national economy, equity and inclusion, inter- governmental coordination, global political context, external financing, private sector engagement, and mobilization of the youth. Thus, for the financial sustainability the study has explored certain models on TVET financing and encouraged to claim prospects of viability of integrating of funds so that TEVT can serve as an avenue for national prosperity.

Keywords: TVET; Financing Pattern; Fiscal Equalization; Political Economy; Sustainability

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Financing of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to a great extent has been a long-standing issue across the globe. Consequently, this issue has generated dozens of studies on TVET which, in turn, have answered questions associated with the mechanism of TVET financing in many ways. Some of the innovative mechanisms that have been adopted for TVET financing in several national training systems consists of namely, cost sharing, development partnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; support, income from services and productions, co-financing with private sectors, levy- grant scheme, fees for services, among others which address the shortcomings of conventional finance systems in order to improve both the quality and relevance of TVET (Ziderman, 2016; Karmel, 2015). Furthermore, financing TVET is considered a crucial issue since it demands a considerably high cost, basically because of expenditures on equipment, infrastructure, instructors, including several other consumables, raw materials and spare parts (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 1996). This could be one of the reasons why countries like Nepal have been advised to consider output-based funding approach on TVET (Renold & Caves, 2017).

In the past, varieties of TVET financing mechanisms have been adopted in different parts of the world. UNESCO-UNEVOC (1996) has clustered them into four types of practices: (a) Public Financing, (b) Enterprise Financing, (c) Private and Public Sponsored Financing and (d) International Donor Assistance. Now the global movement is increasingly moving towards cost sharing mechanism between public and other sectors in order to ensure quality and relevance of TVET programmes. A widely cited hypothesis in the contemporary literature shows that there is a strong correlation between education and employability. And it has not been falsified to date.

Nepal Labour Force Survey 2017/18 claims that individuals who have high level of education and skills would have better labour market outcomes (CBS, 2019). A similar finding was also observed in China, and which asserts that development of high-quality skills and experiences has a good promoting effect on the formation of graduate employability (Chen, 2017). Keeping this in view and utilize education for skill development and increase production, employability and prosperity, the Government of Nepal has taken Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as a means

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for achieving its long-term vision of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali” by 2043 (NPC, 2019).

The Government of Nepal formulated TVET Policy in 2012 with the clear objective to expand the opportunities of TVET so as to prepare capable, efficient, and competitive human resources for the economic development of the country. The government has also put policy in place to ensure access to quality TVET through inclusion, promotion and development of the indigenous skills (MOE, 2012). The constitution of Nepal entails to have a strong partnership with private and cooperative sectors to ensure sustained economic growth for the nation (MOLJPA, 2015). However, the functional clarity and a robust mechanism of financing TVET are yet to be decided in line with the constitutional mandates between and among the three levels of governments of Nepal.

So, the new federal system of the country has extensively calls for reengineering and streamlining of TVET governance and financing mechanism.

Justification The Asian Development Bank (2006) has explored the debate on TVET financing as it is considered to be a “public good” and can be treated as a part of the market. The debate has also been explored by UNESCO (2003) and followed by Fuller and Unwin’s (2013) through some basic questions such as: (a) what should be the roles of the state in financing of TVET? and (b) Does the expansion of private institutions on TVET firmly signify a better sign of mobilizing local resources or has it unknowingly created disparities in the contemporary societies?

Many more such debates have been initiated owing to the unfinished agenda of finding sustainable sources of financing for TVET across the globe in general and particularly in developing countries like Nepal. In Pakistan, India and Thailand, TVET is being mainly financed through public funds followed by a small share of industries and vocational training institutes (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 1996) but in the case of Nepal, government finance has remained exclusively the foremost contributor compared to employers and trainees (CRDS, 2018). This is in stark contrast to the idea of public-private partnership in TVET, one of the development agendas of the government of Nepal adopted not only to decrease large-scale foreign migration of the country’s youth

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population but also to promote locally sustained entrepreneurships (NPC, 2019). In addition, the government of Nepal has been seeking private sector’s engagement as well as development partners’ investment to expand TVET services in all 753 local levels across the country.

However, ensuring financial sustainability in TVET has become very difficult due to competing demands of other development sectors of Nepal. For instance, of the total education budget, basic education consumes the highest share followed by secondary education and higher education. As a result, the share of budget earmarked for the development of TVET sub-sector varies from year to year, remaining constantly below 7% of the total education budget of Nepal (MOF, 2019; 2018, 2017). However, studies (for example CRDS, 2018) reveal that in most countries across the world the same hovers between 1- 12% of the total education budget. These evidences disclose a visible gap between Nepal government’s policy to provide skills to all the youths and its financing strategy to meet the national plan and SDG targets. Recognizing the need for more sustainable financing in TVET, the Government of Nepal has been trying to identify and initiate new sources of funding for TVET and create a strong link between the three levels of government in Nepal for such financing mechanism and enhance private sector engagement for the same. Available information on the current financing patterns and the future course of TVET financing in the changing political and economic context of Nepal is largely sketchy and inadequate. Hence this study intends to make an in-depth investigation of these issues.

Objectives and Process of the Study The primary aim of this research paper is to answer the following questions: (a) What are the current financing patterns of education in general and Technical & Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in particular in case of nation-wide educational reform agenda enacted by the Government of Nepal?

This question firmly examines the current investment patterns of both the public and private sectors in TVET. Simultaneously, it identifies the financial gaps and practical propositions to attain the reform agenda of the Government of Nepal in TVET sector.

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(b) What are the pertinent solutions of funding and alternative options to increase financing for TVET in the federal system of Nepal?

The second question explicitly complements the first question. Since the current trends of financing on TVET does not accommodate the changing requirements of the nation, this question, therefore, analyzes the existing intergovernmental fiscal transfer policy and its strategy and implications to the extent of strengthening quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Nepal. In addition, it also classifies both the TVET and Non-TVET activities, including major challenges of as well as alternative options to integrate TVET financing in the federal governance system of Nepal.

In order to find the answers to these questions, both quantitative and qualitative methods have been blended in this study so as to ensure the validity and reliability of the information provided (Best and Kahn, 2002). The study has followed the survey technique recommended by Dubin (1978) with the aim of providing hints both for theory building and for theory refinement in case of Nepalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future TVET financing.

The study, therefore, used various tools such as interviews, questionnaires, retrospective reports, and electronic communication to identify fund flow mechanisms and governance systems of TVET across the federal line ministries.

The secondary information was the major source of this study. However, key questionnaires were developed to estimate the current TVET financing domain of the federal line ministries, which were then used as the primary source. The secondary data derived from several relevant organizations were carefully analyzed to explore the possible options to make future TVET more responsive and effective to both national demands and global changes.

Conceptual Framework of TVET Financing Expansion of quality TVET requires huge financial resources which is only possible through strengthening and institutionalizing the national economy. Institutionalizing economy has been regarded as political and economic motives whereas reducing disparities has been viewed as social explanations (Wang, 1977). Financing in education in general and TVET in particular is guided by the political economy whereas the superstructure (politics) always serves its substructure (economics) to meet the basic

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requirements (Eatwell, Milgate and Newman, 1987: 907 as cited in Mosco, 2009). The principle of political economy contributes not only to the existing political context but also affects the entire substructures, including education of the country. It creates new echelons to the local political and economic activities in terms of designing capital, labour and financing laws (Kennedy, 2013). In the case of Nepal, the existing federal set up of the country and the governance restructuring process with new funding modality demands a new developmental framework in all sectors of development, including TVET sector.

Thompson (2000) reveals that the evolutionary paradigms of the global political economy have become a contributory factor to shape both the regional and national politics. However, such consequences have heavily facilitated to bring innovations in technical and economic dimensions. Thompson (2000) further claims that the political economy in this regard has appeared as a strong determinant for formulating and implementing public policy reform in the contemporary world (Grindle & Thomas, 1991; ADB, 2006).

Development partners and multinational organizations are the main forces that influence decision-making in educational sector in many developing countries regardless of actual need (Kingdon et al., 2014). Nepal is now utilizing the support of its development partners to strengthen the TVET system of the country. But such kinds of support are being provided in different ways and patterns and according to the liking of the development partners. This is also a form of political economy which is concerned with the distribution of power and wealth between interest groups (Hatlebakk, 2017). And this could be one of the reasons that contemporary scholars widely accepted a notion that even a single support given by the development partners is steeped in vested interest. Hatlebakk further claims that political economy either blocks or accelerates the educational reform agenda. Thus, the insights gained from the literature help us draw a conclusion that the role of political economy firmly examines the politics and its contribution to the development consequences including education outcomes.

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TVET programs and activities have been addressing and implementing cross cutting themes throughout different sectors of Nepal such as education, health, labor, tourism, agriculture and cooperatives, industry, among others. Therefore, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) including other federal ministries and CTEVT are heavily engaged in implementation of various kinds of TVET activities. And although all these efforts have still not been able to attract enough students in skill development and production, TVET is still taken as a viable alternative to general education system (Vollmann, 2010). Thus, exploring financing and costing of TVET activities in Nepal requires the review of the mandates of these agencies which is complex because of the varied nature of these scattered agencies and mechanisms (Parajuli & Shakya, 2012).

Vollman (2010) further says that the lack of political support for TVET, socio-cultural values, limited TVET opportunities in rural areas, including traditional marriage patterns, community tradition that governs specific jobs and skills which are to be exercised by a special group of people, generational transmission of traditional professional skills (belonging to well-defined sub-caste), as well as the religious, linguistic and ethnic values and beliefs are the major challenges to strengthen TVET in South Asia, and particularly in the case of Nepal. Similarly, the questions as to how to increase public support for the development of TVET sector while ensuring commitment from all levels of the government, and, concurrently, develop integrated national TVET system as well as required human resource in the field of TVET by increasing the systemic capacity and maintain the linkage of TVET in relation to labor market are some of the additional challenges in TVET sector of Nepal (Parajuli & Shakya, 2012).

To address the aforementioned challenges, the government of Nepal has adopted the fiscal equalizer policy to ensure equitable resource allocation at all levels of the governments where most of the budgetary responsibilities are assigned to subnational governments (Dung, 2015). In line with the fiscal equalizer policy, it is assumed that economic efficiency and prosperity can be enhanced through the horizontal competition between subnational governments guided by the Second-Generation Theory (Ejoboha, 2018).

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The practice of financing TVET has been rather varied across different countries. For instance, Cambodia introduced a per-capita funding modality in TVET, but the calculation of the unit cost remained a problematic issue since the unit cost varied from one occupation to another (UNESCO, 2013). This could be the reason why many countries in the world later moved towards a sectoral (industry-specific) training fund model as an alternative despite its failure in reducing the duplications and developing common core skills required in the market (Johansen, 2009). In order to address this issue, Johansen (2009), therefore, discovered three major categories of TVET fund after reviewing more than 60 countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cases: (i) pre-employment training fund; (ii) equity training fund; and (iii) enterprise training fund. According to the author, the pre-employment training fund is for providing opportunity and balancing the market demand and supply, while the enterprise training fund is for in-service training to increase productivity and competitiveness. The equity training fund, on the other hand, is for increasing the access to the targeted groups. However, the sources of these models are varied.

The German system, popularly known as dual apprenticeship system, and Japanese enterprise system enormously focus on enterprise-based training system and take the responsibility for financing of training programs to ensure the needed skills of the market (Alam, 2015). Similar case was also observed in the USA. TVET institutions, irrespective of public or private institutions, receive funds from all three levels of government-- federal, state and local levels -- on the basis of the approved TVET strategic plan in the United States (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2014). The company or industry-based TVET delivery system has persisted in Vietnam as well regardless of the lack of attractive incentive packages to the private sectors since institutions enjoy liberty to determine the fee levels and governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fund flows through per-capita funding modality (General Directorate for Vocational Training, 2007).

Interestingly, the case of the South Asian countries appears to be different. Despite a well-established technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system in Sri Lanka, finding sources of sustainable financing in TVET has been a major issue in public sector due to a high financial and economic costs of pre-employment training

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programmes run by public sectors (ADB, 2015a). This has led to the practice of establishing skill development fund has been gaining momentum in many developing countries. For example, the government of Pakistan envisions that TVET financing is a cost sharing responsibility between governments, employers and learners/trainees, in which cost sharing entitles as fees to be paid by learners/trainees, loan or bursary, levy and grants (MOFEPT, 2015). The government of Nepal has made a clear policy provision of establishing a TVET fund to mobilize the resources through joint investment of the government of Nepal, private sectors and development partners in order to increase access and improve quality in TVET (MOE, 2012).

Similarly, the National Skills Development Policy, 2011 of Bangladesh envisions establishing a national human resource development fund to ensure equity and better service of TVET through labor market responsive delivery mechanism (Ministry of Education, 2011). The policy has fixed a target of allocating 1% contribution to the fund out of the total remittance received by Bangladesh in a year. The policy further envisages that micro-credit mechanism has been taken as a tool to provide support for both trainees and training providers through the operationalization of the fund. One of the prime sources of financing is a compulsory revenue-generating payroll levy in Brazil by operationalizing pre-employment fund in order to balance the current supply and demand of labor forces (Johansen, 2009). In Nepal, financing of TVET has been mainly ensured by government funds followed by private sector sources with the aim of ensuring equity in TVET (Parajuli, 2013). The informal sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contributions - such as individual, household, and community sources - have been major source of TVET funding in Nepal, the author highlights. It is apparent that the government of Nepal basically finances the public sectors and trainees are subject to pay fees in privately run technical training providers (TTPs) in Nepal citing the example of CTEVT, which runs its major TVET activities through government grants and allows TTPs to also charge fees (ADB, 2015).

The literature helps draw a conclusion that the TVET stakeholders have a varied interest. For example, employers always attempt to recruit qualified workers from the market. The government is interested in maintaining a sustainable financing since TVET consumes a significant amount of resources. Therefore, those who can pay for training

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courses are the target groups of the technical training providers and the job seekers, in turn, want a decent and better paying job. Thus, following the suggestions of Renold, Boli and Caves (2018), in the federal context of Nepal, it needs to be explored whether establishing a pooling mechanism and allocating budget through per-capita funding modality would be instrumental for translating these varied interests into a common framework of financing of TVET in Nepal.

Evidence from the literature demonstrates that there are four different dimensions of financing TVET (ADB, 2006): (a) what are the purpose and aims of TVET, (b) how to ensure value for money, (c) who should pay for TVET and (d) what would be a suitable mechanism to transfer the funds from the source to the destinations. The cumulative purpose of these dimensions is to investigate a best-managed mechanism of financial flow on TVET. These are equally crucial issues in the changed federal governance system of Nepal. The provisions of constitutional concurrent authorities, including TVET, have further required to establish a strong inter-coordination mechanism among three levels of government (MOEST, 2019).

Overview of TVET Financing in Nepal Due to the changed political context of the country, the new government with left wing ideology has given utmost priority to equity and inclusion in education including TVET. As per the observations made by Braga, Checchi and Meschi (2013), the leftwing ideologies basically favor inclusive education reforms, whereas right-wing ideologies focus on selective education reforms without examining the financing determinant as a vital contributor. While analyzing the manifestos of the current political parties related to left-wing ideologies of Nepal, a prime importance has been given to the TVET sector. As a result, the current Government of Nepal has announced that the public expenditure will be primarily focusing on TVET and the government will establish at least one TVET institution in each of all local levels across the country. In light of this, how does the political economy shape the financing of education has become a crucial question in public education reform in the federal context of Nepal.

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Trend of Financing TVET in Nepal The human capital theory claims that the investment in education and training is not the cost rather an investment for future benefits (Baker, 1994). Education has been considered as a vehicle to contribute towards skilled human capital (Hasan, & Mokhtar, 2013). This could be the reason why many countries in the world have started prioritizing financing in TVET so as to develop specific human capital. TVET sector demands higher cost compared to the general education, so the governments seek various sources to meet the required investment in TVET. For instance, particularly in the developed countries, a chunk of investment in TVET has been mobilized from private sectors (business and industries), including student fees, employee levy and so on and so forth. But in contrast, developing countries have been facing acute shortage of budget in TVET and mostly relying on the government budget and support from development partners to some extent (ADB, 2014).

Taking into account both public and private sources of financing TVET, OECD countries have been spending almost 6.0% of their GDP in all types of educational institutions, including TVET. The highest share of this investment is found in Denmark, Iceland, the Republic of Korea and the United States, with at least 7.0% of GDP, followed by Mexico and New Zealand with more than 6.5% (ADB, 2009). The author further identifies that the proportion of Greece and Russian Federation is 4.2% and 3.8% respectively. However, the corresponding figures sharply declined in case of developing and least developed countries. For example, Nepal spends almost 3.4% of GDP in education (Ministry of Finance, 2019) whereas Bangladesh spends 2.5%, India 3.8%, Mongolia 3.5%, Sri Lanka 3.2% and Pakistan spends about 2.3% of its GDP to education (ADB, 2009, 2014). Whereas Bhutan and Maldives spend 5.9 % and 7.0% in education to their GDPs respectively.

In this regard, allocation of government budget for the entire education sector of Nepal seems more or less comparable but the budget allocated in TVET has not been evenly distributed (see Table 1).

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Table 1: Comparative analysis of TVET budget (NPR in Million) Fiscal Year

Total national Budget

Total education budget

TVET TVET TVET Budget of Budget of Budget from MoEST other Line DPS Ministries 2013/14 517240 80958 2923 9673 1513 2014/15 594000 91714 5915 12604 1985 2015/16 819469 98643 5647 14447 2254 2016/17 1048921 116361 6333 16165 1927 2017/18 1278995 126642 6037 14322 2255 2018/19 1315162 134703 9498 14322 3141 2019/20 1532967 163766 9899 14322 3288 Sources: Redbook 2013/14- 2019/20, Ministry of Finance, Annual Budget and Programme of CEHRD, CTEVT from 2013/14. Annual budget distribution of TU from 2013/14* ď&#x20AC;Ş The above table contains the information captured from the Annual Redbook published by the MoF. The budget allocation for fiscal year 2018/19 and 2019/20 from other ministries has not been calculated due to the resource for the local and provincial governments that have not been reflected in federal Redbook. Moreover, the budget for technical higher education has been captured from Tribhuvan University only.

The figures of Table 1 show that there has been a continued increase in national budget since 2013/14 to 2019/20. However, the government budget allocated for TVET has remained constant. For example, Table 1 depicts that the TVET budget increment appeared to be about 2% every year. The implication of this scenario derives an evidence that the allocated budget does not support the policy of skilling all youths who enter into the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s labour market about 500 thousand every year.

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The main purpose of this research was to identify the trends of TVET financing in Nepal. In order to analyze the trend, the researcher collected last 7 years’ data starting from fiscal year 2013/14 to 2019/20. Then Pearson’s correlation was administered by using SPSS software to explore the relationship between the total national budget of the Government of Nepal and its share to TVET, which is depicted Table 2.

Table 2: Pearson’s Correlation between total national budget and its share to TVET Indicators Total national budget

Pearson’s Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

Total government budget in TVET

Total national budget 1

Total TVET budget .866* .012

7

7 1

Sig. (2-tailed)

.866* .012

N

7

7

Pearson Correlation

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 2 shows the correlation between total national budget and its share to TVET. The result of the computed Pearson’s correlation coefficient exhibited that there was a positive association (r=.866, p=0.012<0.05) between the allocation of national budget and its share to TVET. It means if government increased the total national budget, the TVET budget has also been increased simultaneously. In addition, the computed figure indicates that there was a strong correlation between total national budget and its share to TVET since it was statistically significant at 5 % level.

Similarly, Pearson’s correlation was administered by using SPSS software to examine the relationship between the total education budget of the Government of Nepal and its share to TVET which is described in Table 3.

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Table 3: Pearson’s Correlation between total education budget and its share to TVET Indicator Total education budget

Share of education budget in TVET

Pearson’s Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

Total national budget 1

Total TVET budget .897** .006

N

7

7

Pearson Correlation

.897**

1

Sig. (2-tailed)

.006

N

7

7

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).

Table 3 examines the association between total education budget and its share to TVET. The result of the computed Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed that there was a positive association (r=.897, p=0.006<0.01) between the allocation of total education budget and its share to TVET. It means if government increased the total education budget, the TVET budget has also simultaneously increased. TVET sector budget increases as the education sector budget increases. In addition, the computed figure directs that there was a strong correlation between total education budget and its share to TVET since it was statistically significant at 1 % level.

Correspondingly, Pearson’s correlation was also administered by using SPSS software to observe the relationship between the total government budget in TVET and the share of the development partners, which is shown in Table 4.

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Table 4: Pearson’s Correlation between total government budget in TVET and the share of development partners Indicator Total government budget in TVET

Share of development partner’s in TVET

Pearson’s Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

Total national budget 1

Total TVET budget .814* .161

N

7

7

Pearson Correlation

.814*

1

Sig. (2-tailed)

.026

N

7

7

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Very surprisingly, the table discloses the association between total government budget in TVET and the share of development partners. The result of the computed Pearson’s correlation coefficient exposed that there was a negative association (r=.814, p=0.026<0.05) between the allocation of total government budget in TVET and the share of development partners. It means that the development partner’s share in TVET has been significantly increased along with the increase in the budget of the Government of Nepal in TVET. In addition, the computed figure also adds an evidence that there was a strong association between total government budget in TVET and the share of the development partners since the result claims that it was statistically significant at 5% level.

Policy Options to Strengthen TVET Financing in Nepal Regarding the alternative options to increase TVET financing in the federal system of Nepal, I tried to capture the opinion through the interviews, focused group discussions with the TVET experts, policy makers and implementers and TVET stakeholders to

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identify the appropriate fund flow mechanisms and governance systems of TVET. But the key informants raised some pertinent issues on TVET governance. These issues were, access and equity in TVET opportunity, including improving quality relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of training systems, resource generation and its efficient use for TVET with sustainability. Furthermore, they suggested to develop a mechanism for the intergovernmental coordination and cooperation for TVET governance, ways to increase the youth attraction and mobilization, ways to generate the resource and its mobilization, partnership with the non-state organization, funding modality and pattern in line with the federal system of the country.

Intergovernmental Coordination and Cooperation for Good Governance in TVET The roles and responsibilities of each levels of government for the development of the TVET sub-sector should be clearly demarcated through integrated TVET Act. Without legal provision, there might be some lacking and duplication in TVET programmes. A policy coordination mechanism should be established which can play a crucial role in enhancing coordination between all three levels of government (federal, state and local) for policy formulation and its implementation whereas the local government are to be made responsible to identify workforce required by the local job-market based on the nature of the work and delivery of short-term vocational training. State governments need to be made responsible for delivery of long-term technicalvocational education and focus on compliance monitoring and evaluation of TVET programmes. At the top of it all, the federal government should be made responsible to develop TVET policy framework, institutional arrangements and come up with quality assurance indicators to standardize delivery of TVET programmes.

Youth Attraction and Mobilization We should modernize the traditional and indigenous occupation by rebranding and mobilize the youth to engage in economic activities through these occupations.

Government should facilitate to promote these skills and occupations. We should apply the strategies to motivate youth in skill development and entrepreneurship for raising living standard by making technical-vocational education and training more

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practical and responsive to the demands of the job market. Due social recognition and respect to the skilled workers would be another strategy to attract the youth in skill development. But the policy in Nepal still doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have mechanism for lateral entry of those who are in technical vocational education and want to pursue general education and vise-versa. Therefore, in order to motivate youths to take up TVET, the status of technical-vocation education needs to be raised at par with mainstream education by ensuring permeability between the general and technical vocational education.

Resource Generation and Distribution With Its Sustainability Establishment of TVET Fund would be the most effective way for ensuring sustainable financing for technical and vocational education and training in the country. This would also prove to be a more predictable source to fund training programs while working to enhance quality, accessibility and relevancy of TVET as per the government's policy and also make it more efficient and responsive to the present-day demands of the local job market. The TVET Fund thus created would pool together resources from government budget, non-government/private sector, public and private donations, student fees as well as assistance from donors and allocate the same through a onedoor system for both promotion and development of the sub-sector. Such a mechanism would also ease the procedure for investment in the TVET sector as it would do away with the unnecessary red-tape and further encourage industries and companies to come on board for the development of the sector to which they rely so much for skilled workforce.

CTEVT, the apex body for promotion and development of TVET in Nepal, and its constituent TVET providers in the state and local level have been mobilizing the resources for the promotion and development of TVET subsector and ensure aforementioned policy objective. Similarly, private TVET providers mostly raise funds to deliver TVET through student fees, but also receive government support in the form of subsidies and sharing of best practices. Therefore, the possible ways to increase investment in TVET sub-sector is funding and tax subsidies to open up industry-based training institution, provide on-the-job training and apprenticeship, levies in their production and service units and encourage the financial institutions like banks to provide educational loans to students to fund their study and training.

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Enhance Private Sector Engagement in TVET Some of the possible measures that can used to increase and enhance private sector investment in technical and vocational education and training would be through (i) representation of private sector in the policy level committee, (ii) tax subsidies and tax exemption for private sector investing in TVET, (iii) exemption of custom duty to import educational equipment including vehicles used for transporting students and teaching staff, (iv) involving the private sector in long-term TVET planning and policy making (v) providing public lands on long-term lease basis to establish training centers.

To attract private sector funding in TVET, the private sector should be directly involved in sourcing and determining the allocation of funds raised from private sector contributions as well as its active involvement in governance. TVET and labour market information systems need to be strong enough so that policy makers and stakeholders can understand where the training market is not working well, where there are private under-investments or public over-investments and why such is the case. In addition, such systems need to be accessible, informative and easy to use also for students and parents in order to spur demands and acceptance of vocational training.

Funding Framework for TVET Considering the current scenario of demand and supply of skilled workforce in the country, there are huge challenges in making available adequate financial resources to materialize the TVET vision in Nepal. Thus, at least two sets of policy issues need to be addressed in this regard: first, exploring and finding ways to ensure adequate funding across all TVET institutions and, second, examining the role of government and other TVET stakeholders and beneficiaries in addressing these challenges. Credible cost-benefit analyses as well as realistic cost projections for resource generation and funding of recurrent expenditures should be done so that private sector can also feel assured of their investment. Performance based budgeting schemes could be effective if quality in TVET is defined and outcomes are measured to assist institutions to improve quality. Similarly, subsidies, loans, funds and training voucher systems can be highly effective means for financing and revising demand orientation of TVET. Generating more in-country employment through a robust job market would significantly reduce the contribution of remittance to the country's GDP which currently stands at 25%

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(MoF, 2019). Self-employment and entrepreneurship-oriented training would be very effective in this regard.

Although the contribution of remittance to Nepal's economy cannot be entirely reduced, the new and innovative skills acquired by returnee migrants would be very useful for the local economy and the market. It would not only help in skill transfer, but also encourage transfer of modern technology that will ultimately benefit the country's industries and businesses. Therefore, the government should also provide priority loans and subsidies to the returnee migrant to become entrepreneurs and implement the skills and expertise they have learnt abroad to generate employment and contribute to economic growth.

Reflections on Financing TVET Though the trend of budget allocation for TVET sector is highly correlated to the total national budget and total education budget, the actual allocation still seems to be significantly low especially given that the government has identified TVET as key to jump starting nation-wide reform agenda for the overall development of the nation.

Similarly, to achieve the targets set in SDG4 to ensure quality technical and vocational education for all women and men, and substantially increase the number of youth and adults with relevant skill including technical and vocational skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship by 2030 (UNESCO, 2016) the financial arrangement made by the government of about 7% of the national education budget is not sufficient. Therefore, the government allocation in TVET sector should be increased to fulfil the minimum requirement for ensuring quality TVET and expanding it in order to make it accessible for all. The internal resource of the developing countries could not address the reform agenda in education, including TVET, so the need to mobilize the support from the international community (multilateral organizations, financial institutions, investors and philanthropic institutions) i.e. should increase external financing as recommended by the education commission report 2016.

To bring about immediate and immense reforms in TVET sector of Nepal, increasing focus should be directed towards the improvement of major four areas, (a) strengthen legal foundation (b) intergovernmental coordination for TVET governance (c) resource

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harmonization with appropriate fund flow mechanism and (d) effective private sector engagement in TVET as per the recommendations made by Renold, Bolli & Katheriane (2018). They also emphasize on creating an Inter-Governmental TVET Coordination Committee to act as high-level steering committee, redefining a TVET policy for 2030 linking with SDGs, developing an integrated TVET Act, and developing an evidencebased financial flow mechanism on TVET. Among aforementioned recommendations, effective and transparent financial flow appears to be an extremely important prerequisite for efficient TVET system in the federal context of Nepal.

Nepal has now entered into the federal governance system. The national government itself cannot single-handedly address the financial requirement to bring about reform in TVET sub-sector. Therefore, shared responsibility of all levels of government in ensuring continued financing in TVET will be instrumental for resource generation and mobilization in TVET. In regards to financial sustainability, different models can be used in TVET financing in Nepal. These models could be: (i)establishing TVET fund based on sector wide approach for the resource generation and mobilization of the development partnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; support in TVET sector; (ii) voucher system, (iii)institutionbased allocation, (iv) apprenticeship, (v) partnership with the private sector, (vi) corporate social responsibility for resource allocation to strengthen TVET. Furthermore, providing priority loans and subsidies to the economically poor people and the returnee migrants for the skill development and entrepreneurship purposes could be also applied. Funds with diverse source of finance, i.e. earmarked payroll levies, government sources, external sources etc. can also be established and utilized in the context of Nepal as Lauglo, (2006) said in relation with industrial sector to supply required human resource for them. Earmarked training levies have emerged as the most widely adopted alternative measure identified by the central government for budgetary allocation for TVET (Ziderman, 2016) and introduced in some countries such as Brazil, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Tanzania and Fiji. The same strategy can be appropriate in the case of Nepal as well.

The finding of this study reveals that TVET financing has been influenced mainly by national economy, equity and inclusion, inter- governmental coordination, global political context, external financing, private sector engagement, and mobilization of the

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youth. The evidence shows that these factors contribute to shape the financing of TVET, equity based distribution of the resources, and strengthen efficiency and effectiveness among the levels of the governments following the fiscal equalization theory and second-generation theory (Thomson, 2000, Dung, 2015, Ejobaha, 2018).

Recapitulation and Conclusion This study comes up with a conclusion that the establishment of a TVET fund would be an effective model to pool and mobilize resources in order to strengthen the voucher system and apprenticeship model with the partnership of private sector. In addition, soft loans and institutional-based subsidized funding mechanism have been identified as key instruments to attract the youth and the returnee migrants for the development of skills and entrepreneurship. There are some possible ways to increase investment in TVET sub-sector in Nepal through tax subsidization to private sectors to open up industry-based training institutions, strengthen apprenticeship model. In addition, levies to employees and developing a mechanism of encouraging the financial institutions like banks, cooperatives would be viable instruments to reach to the unreached in TVET. Since the cost of TVET appeared quite higher than the general education, one of the critical findings captured in this paper, thus, highlighted an urgent need of establishing a common understanding, coordination, collaboration and cooperation mechanism between three levels of government to ensure adequate financing in TVET. For this, an Inter-Governmental TVET Coordination Committee needs to be established to act as high-level steering committee for linking TVET with SDGs. The evidence of this research has further encouraged to claim some prospects of possibility of integrating or pooling of funds from governmental, non-governmental and from private sectors to largely benefit the youth population through employment generation programmes and bring about economic development of the country.

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Braga, M., Checchi, D., & Meschi, E. (2013). Educational policies in a long-run perspective. Economic Policy, 28(73), 45–100.

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Article 09 Industry Sector Human Resource Need Survey in Bangladesh: The Gap Between What Job Markets Demand and What TVET Institutions Offer Takujiro Ito1, Yoshinaga Nakamura, & Yumi Yamaguchi 1 Chief Advisor, Project for Improving Local Governance Training through Capacity Enhancement on Research and Analysis (ILGT-CERA), JICA-MoFAGA-LDTA, Nepal Abstract This paper summarizes the results of a survey to assess the gap between the demands of industry sector human resource and TVET in Bangladesh. The survey was conducted jointly by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of Ministry of Education of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) and IC Net Limited, an international development consultant firm of Japan. The study is based on a survey of 322 manufacturing companies from both Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh, carried out between 12 January and 11 February 2016. The results of the survey show that among the surveyed firms, 87.5% were aware of the training provided by TVET institutes, and the level of satisfaction with graduates was 3.68 on a five-point scale. However, respondents who refer to employment opportunities for their office and factory from TVET institutions were of a much smaller proportion, compared with other sources such as website, word of mouth, or recommendation of current personnel (3.5%, 3.3% respectively) of the sample, with a mean level of satisfaction of 2.77 on a four-point scale. Furthermore, we found a disparity between the demand for TVET graduates and their competencies. These competencies include technical skills and knowledge, practical experience targeted by TVET institutions in Bangladesh, and fundamental competencies for employees such as communication skills, the ability to work in a team, and motivation for work. In the labour market of the industrial sector, the demand for both machine operators (30.9%) and manufacturing workers (35.2%) was much higher than that of other types of workers because employees quit their job frequently, leading to a high degree of employee turnover. On the other hand, it is difficult for firms to find employees locally for

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management positions such as high- and mid- level managers. Of the firms interviewed, 32.8% of the firms hire foreign workers who serve mainly as high- or mid-level managers (58.2% and 26.9%, respectively). In addition, 66.3% of firms had either a training plan or budget, and 54.3% were interested in starting a training program. To address the disparity between the demand for industrial human resources and TVET institutions in Bangladesh, the survey team recommended: First, the course curriculum and quality of teaching at TVET institutions should be developed by setting targets for job categories. Second, TVET institutions should develop Project Based Learning (PBL) programs, internships, or joint venture (JV) programs with industry. Third, Business-toBusiness (B2B) support could be a useful strategy to fill firms’ demand on human resources beyond the limited resources of TVET institutions, as firms need to have internal or external training to develop their workers and fulfil their own human resource needs.

Keywords: Industry Sector; Human Resource Need Survey; Bangladesh; Job Market Demand; TVET Institutions Introduction This paper summarizes the results of a survey to assess the gap between the demands of industry sector human resource and TVET in Bangladesh and provide recommendation to minimize the its gaps. The survey was conducted jointly by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of Ministry of Education of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) and IC Net Limited, an international development consultant firm of Japan. The study is based on a survey of 322 manufacturing companies from both Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh, carried out between 12 January and 11 February 2016.

Background Bangladesh is experiencing dramatic development in industry. Human resources development is therefore an urgent matter for achieving national goals in the industrial fields. However, there are the high unemployment rate as well as institutional capacity weaknesses in TVET institutions. Mindful of such a situation, DTE, BTEB and IC Net decided to conduct the “industry sector human resource needs survey” jointly.

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Objective The objective of the survey is to identify and explore factors associated with the gap between the demands on industrial human resources and TVET institutions in Bangladesh to identify the barriers that are preventing acceleration of expansion for the industry sector.

Methodology This was a descriptive cross sectional study examining the gap between the demands on industrial human resources and TVET in Bangladesh. The study is based on questionnaire based face to face interview to 322 manufacturing companies from Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh, carried out in January 12 to February 11, 2016.

Descriptive statistics was carried out to obtain proportion and mean with 95% CI. Results of the Survey In this paper, the authors present part of the most relevant results obtained from the survey. Comprehensive results are available in survey report by Ito, T., Nakamura Y. & Yamaguchi Y. (2016).

Characteristics of the Interviewed Establishments Data were available for 325 firms from seven sectors: agro-food, construction, transport equipment, light engineering, ready-made garments, leather, and others.

Three firms that did not have reliable data were excluded. After excluding these firms, there were 322 firms in total in the six clusters. The number of firms in each sector was six (1.9%) in agro-food, 73 (22.7%) in construction, 15 (4.7%) in transport equipment, 32 (9.9%) in light engineering, 114 (35.4%) in ready-made garments, 20 (6.2%) in leather and 62 (19.3%) in other sectors. Figure 1 summarizes the firms and their frequency and percentage distribution by sector. Among the respondents, readymade garments had the most firms (35.4%) and agro-food had the least (1.9%).

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Figure 1: Firms by sector Surveyed companies indicated that their target market is 44.7% international, 43.2% domestic, and 11.5% both, respectively.

Number of Employees and Gross Salary in Each Job Category Table 1 presents the mean of number of employees and gross salary in each job category. Machine operators are the largest category, with a mean of 409.3 employees, followed by manufacturing workers with the mean of 291.7 employees. These two categories are common among employees in firms. Line supervisors are the third largest employee category among nine job categories. Both low-level mangers and maintenance staff categories are of similar size to the line supervisor category, consisting of 27.9 and 27.1 employees, respectively. The next largest categories are mid-level managers (15.9), service personnel (12.3), and administration staff (11.8).

High-level managers are the smallest job category.

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Table 1: Number of employee and Gross Salary in each category Category

High-Level Manager Mid-Level Manager Low-Level Manager Line Supervisors Maintenance Machine Operators Manufacturing Workers Administration related staff Service Personnel

Number of Observations

Gross Salary

233 221 216 172 196 187 176 191

Number of Employees Mean 6.8 15.9 27.9 39.0 27.1 409.3 291.7 11.8

Mean (BGT) 109,453 59,553 35,232 18,876 15,199 12,327 9,686 13,608

Eq. in USD* 1,295.33 704.79 416.96 223.39 179.87 145.89 114.63 161.05

194

12.3

8,512

100.74

*Calculated by the rate of 1USD=84.50 BGT (1/9/2019) In terms of the mean of gross salary, high-level managers earn the most: 109,453 Bangladeshi Taka (BDT). Mid-level managers have the second largest salaries, earning on the mean of BDT 59,553. The mean of gross salary is less in the following job categories: low-level managers (BDT 35,232), line supervisors (BDT 18,876), maintenance staff (BDT 15,199), administration staff (BDT 13,608), machine operators (BDT 12,327), manufacturing workers (BDT 9,686), and service personnel (BDT 8,512). This trend is due to the level of educational qualification for each job category.

The gross salary of those who achieved higher education tends to be greater than for those with a lower level of education.

Annual Demand for New Personnel Table 2 present the demand for new personnel every year in the nine job categories and the factors that drive demand. The demand for both machine operators (30.9%) and manufacturing workers (35.2%) was much higher than in other job categories and is distributed in proportion to the number of employees as shown in Table 8. The percentages in demand for new personnel in other job categories, in decreasing order, are the following: low-level managers (10.5%), mid- level managers (6.4%), maintenance

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staff (5.0%), line supervisors (4.8%), others (3.2%), service personnel (1.8%), high-level managers (1.6%), and administration staff (0.5%).

The most common reason for the demand for new personnel was employee turnover (40%). The second most common reason was that the firm was increasing production capacity (33%). Other firms indicated that is difficult to find qualified and technically skilled staff (17%).

Table 2: Demands to hire new personnel every year by job category (multiple answers permitted) Category

Frequency

High-Level Manager Mid-Level Manager Low-Level Manager Line Supervisor Maintenance Staff Machine Operator Manufacturing Worker Administration related Staff Service Personnel Others Total

7 28 46 21 22 135 154 2 8 14 437

Percentage of response 1.6 6.4 10.5 4.8 5.0 30.9 35.2 0.5 1.8 3.2 100.0

Percentage of cases 2.4 9.7 15.9 7.3 7.6 46.7 53.3 0.7 2.8 4.9 151.2

Employment by Institution Type and Level of Satisfaction Table 3 shows the number of recruited employees from five institution types: engineering college, polytechnic institution, TSC (Trade School Certificate), TTC (Technical Training Center), and BITAC (Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre). Those who graduated from engineering college and polytechnic institutions had enough observations, and 9.4 (95 CI 6.6 to 12.2) and 13.4 (95 CI 9.3 to 17.5) were recorded. However, the observed numbers of those who graduated from other institutions such as TSCs, TTCs, and BITACs were limited, and the 95 CIs overlapped

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with each other. Therefore, there is weak evidence against the hypothesis that the mean of number of recruited employees differs in these institutions.

Table 3: Number of employees recruited from TVET institutes Institution Engineering College Polytechnic Institution TSC TTC BITAC Other

Number of observations 228 237 34 58 11 37

Number hired 9.4 (6.6, 12.2) 13.4 (9.3, 17.5) 18.8 (9.0, 28.7) 13.9 (5.7, 22.2) 14.0 (1.2, 26.8) 21.0 (9.8, 32.2)

Figure 2 presents the level of satisfaction with the graduates from each institution. The level of satisfaction with graduates, in summary, was 3.68 (95CI 3.46 to 3.90) on a fivepoint scale. Those who graduated from engineering colleges and polytechnic institutions were observed, and 3.94 (95 CI 3.86 to 4.02) and 3.77 (95 CI 3.69 to 3.84) were recorded. The level of satisfaction with the graduates from engineering college was higher (0.17 points) that those who graduated from a polytechnic institution.

There is strong evidence against null hypothesis that the level of satisfaction with the graduates from engineering colleges and polytechnic institutions is the same. However, the observed number of graduates from other institutions such as TSCs, TSCs, and BITACs that found employment was limited, and the 95 CIs overlapped with each other. Therefore, according to Figure 12, there is weak evidence against hypothesis that the mean of level of satisfaction with the graduates is different in these institutions.

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5 4.5 4

3.94

3.77

3.5

3.48

3.6

3.64

3.64

TSC

TTC

BITAC

Other

3 2.5 2 1.5

1 0.5 0 Engineering college

Polytechnic institution

Figure 2: Level of firmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; satisfaction with graduates by institution with 95% CI Weakness of Employees The top five weakness were lack of technical knowledge (14.2%), work experience or maturity (12.0%), technical or job specific skills (9.8%), foreign language skills (9.3%), and problem-solving skills (8.2%). While employers are facing technical challenges, which were ranked the first and third weaknesses, fundamental competency that is general job skills is a weakness of the employees, accounting for a large portion of weakness as shown in Figure 3.

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Figure 3: Weakness of employees (multiple answers permitted, %) Perceptions of Required Job Competencies and Expectations for Graduates From TVET Institutions As shown in Table 4, prior to the survey, enumerators thought that “practical experience and skills”, “basic skills and knowledge”, “specific knowledge” and “knowledge and skill in PLC” are required in industrial companies. Among those competencies, “practical experience” was ranked first. On the other hand, after visiting industry to collect data, they found that “skill and knowledge of machine operation” is also important. They also found that machines include PLCs and other modern machineries, like CNC machines. Most firms that they visited use machines to expand production capacity and maintain quality control. Therefore, 15 enumerators answered “skill and knowledge of machine operation” as an essential competency, and it was ranked first in the post-questionnaire results. In addition, enumerators found that the “communication skills” is one of the fundamental competencies for good production.

The number of enumerators who answered “basic skills and knowledge” as a core competency increased in the post-questionnaire results, changing from six to ten. The number of enumerators that indicated “specific knowledge” as a competency

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decreased from pre-questionnaire results, changing from four to two. These changes show that enumerators realized that â&#x20AC;&#x153;basic skill and knowledgeâ&#x20AC;? is more important than specific skills and knowledge in industrial fields.

Table 4: Ideas on job competencies of industrial companies Pre-Questionnaire Competencies Practical experience/ skill

N (Mult.)

11

Rank 1

Basic skill and knowledge

6

2

Specific skill and knowledge Knowledge and skill of PLC

4

3

2

4

Total

23

Post-Questionnaire Competencies Practical experience/ skill Basic skill and knowledge Specific skill and knowledge Skill and knowledge of machine operation Communication skill Management skill

N (Mult.)

8

Rank 4

10

3

2

6

15

1

14 3 52

2 5

Table 5 shows enumeratorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; expectations for graduates from TVET institutions. The table shows that practical skills, basic knowledge, and communication skills are the top three skills expected for graduates from TVET institutions in both the pre- and postquestionnaire. Practical skills are the highest in both pre-questionnaire (88.9%) and post-questionnaire (94.4%) results. Graduates from TVET institutions are expected to have basic knowledge and fundamental competencies like communication skills and positive attitude, and these skills seem more important than advanced technology and new technology skills.

Furthermore, results on problem-solving skills changed from 30.6% in prequestionnaire to 50.0% in post-questionnaire. Likewise, responses for management skills changed from 16.7% to 30.6%. Throughout this survey, enumerators seemed to have learned from their interviews that employees face work-related problems, and it is important for students of TVET institutions to acquire problem-solving skills to contribute and work well in firms after graduation.

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Table 5: Ideas on expectations for graduates of TVET institutions (Number of enumerators=36) Pre-Questionnaire Skill

Practical skills Communication skill Basic knowledge Information technology skill Positive attitude to improve job Job experience New technology Problem solving skill Advanced knowledge Management skill Logical thinking Applicability & flexibility Other

% of enumerators answered (Multiple) 88.9 63.9 52.8 44.4

(N)

32 23 19 16

PostQuestionnaire % of enumerators answered (Multiple) 94.4 52.8 63.9 27.8

34 19 23 10

Gap between Pre- and PostQuestionnaire (Based on PreQuestionnaire) (%) +5.1% -11.1% +11.1% -16.6%

38.9

14

41.7

15

+2.8%

33.3 33.3 30.6 19.4 16.7 13.9 13.9 2.8

12 12 11 7 6 5 5 1

36.1 25.0 50.0 16.7 30.6 16.7 13.9 5.6

13 9 18 6 11 6 5 2

+2.8% -8.3% +19.4% -2.7% +13.9 % +2.8% 0% +2.8%

(N)

Discussion and Recommendations Relationship Between Job Classifications, Recent TVET Graduates, and TVET Targets Under NTVQF1 As shown in Table 6, the results of this survey showed that there is a strong relationship between education level and job category. The number of high-, mid-, and low-level managers goes up as the education level increases. Conversely, the number

1

NTVQF: National Technical and Vocational Qualification Framework

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of maintenance staff, machine operators, and manufacturing workers gradually declines as the education level increases.

Under the NTVQF, graduates with a diploma in engineering target becoming mid-level managers or sub-assistant engineers. HSC and SSC graduates target becoming skilled workers or basic skilled worker. When comparing the job classifications of TVET graduates working in industry and NTVQF job targets, there are few disparities in the survey results.

Table 6: Relationship between education level and job classification

NTV QF Leve l N/A

Educat ion Level

Manuf Machi Mainte actune nance ring Oper Staff Staff ator Pre-Voc 1-2 & NTVQF13 0.3% 0.7% 2.2%

NTVQ F4 4.3%

LowLevel Manage r NTVQ F5 32.8%

MidLevel Manage r NTVQ F6 49.1%

Line Supervi sor

HighLevel Manager N/A

4

Higher Educati on BSC in Eng. Diplom a in Eng. HSC

3

SSC

28.5%

30.6%

32.1%

32.7%

6.8%

2.2%

1.8%

1-5

TTC

12.9%

20.3%

14.0%

10.5%

1.3%

0.0%

0.2%

Pre 1-2

Primary Educati on

43.3%

33.8%

17.2%

5.7%

1.1%

0.2%

0.7%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

N/A 6

Total

64.9%

0.3%

0%

2.4%

1.0%

15.2%

25.7%

23.5%

2.7%

3.1%

11.0%

10.5%

25.7%

18.4%

6.8%

12.1%

11.6

21.0%

35.3%

17.1%

4.4%

2.2%

: 20% or more; : between 10% and 19.9% (Source: survey team)

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Disparity Between the Demand for TVET Graduates and NTVQF Competencies The survey results show that 87.5% of firms had an idea on what kinds of human resources are provided by TVET institutes, and most of the firms that hire TVET graduates were satisfied with the current training and education of TVET institutions.

The level of satisfaction with graduates was 3.68 (95 CI 3.46 to 3.90).

Although this positive tendency was observed, it is also worth considering the weakness of TVET from both those who are not satisfied and those who are. Two main weaknesses are lack of technical knowledge and lack of practical experience.

Concerning the weakness of graduates from TVET institutions, the top five weaknesses were lack of technical knowledge (14.2%), lack of work experience or maturity (12.0%), technical or job specific skills (9.8%), foreign language skills (9.3%), and problem-solving skills (8.2%). While employers are facing technical challenges, which were ranked the first and third of concern, general job skills were also a weakness of TVET graduates, accounting for a large portion of weakness, as shown in Figure 3.

The NTVQF sets competencies based on industry demand, as shown in Table 7. Based on the competencies of the NTVQF under NSDP20112, BTEB reviews the course components of technical education such as diploma in engineering provided in polytechnic institutions as well as that of vocational education such as the SSC Voc, HSC Voc. and HSC Business Management (BM). In the review process BTEB needs to address the weaknesses of TVET shown in Figure 3 so that those undergo TVET can meet industry demand.

Another point to keep in mind is that there are components that industry demands but are not described as the competencies of the NTVQF. Table 7 below shows a match-up analysis between the weaknesses of TVET graduates and competencies of the NTVQF derived from the survey.

2

National Skill Development Policy of Bangladesh set in 2011

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Table7: Weaknesses of TVET graduates and competencies of NTVQF Category Accumulation knowledge Specific skills

of

Fundamental competency

Supporting skills Practical experience Other

Competency: Weakness of the TVET graduates (1) Literacy/ numeracy skills (2) Lack of technical knowledge (3) Technical or job specific skills (4) Problem solving skills (5) Taking initiative (6) Creativity (7) Poor attitude/ personality or lack of motivation (8) Communication Skills (9) Lack of common sense (10) Teamwork skills (11) Creativity (12) Basic IT skills (13) Foreign language skills (14) Lack of working experience or maturity (15) Others Total

Number of observations 7 26 18

%

NTVQF*1

3.8 14.2 9.8

No Yes Yes

15 13 9 14

8.2 7.1 4.9 7.7

Yes Yes Yes No

12 10 9 9 10 17 22

6.6 5.5 4.9 4.9 5.5 9.3 12

No No No Yes No No No

1 183

0.5 104.9

N/A

*1: Whether the competency mentioned as weakness of TVET graduates is listed as NTVQF (Source: survey team) Literacy and numeracy skills are developed by primary education and it is not mentioned as the competency of NTVQF. However, firms pointed out this skill as a weakness of TVET graduates. Other skills categorized as weakness of TVET graduates are poor attitude and lack of motivation, and lack of communication skills, common sense, and teamwork skills. Although these components are not listed competencies of NTVQF, it seems they are required as the job classification increases. Thus, TVET students, especially those who study in diploma courses, should improve their skills through provided education programs because the education level is targeting the management posts such as mid-level managers. Students can improve their skills using

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Project Based Learning (PBL) because it can be designed to use and develop technical skills and knowledge and to develop fundamental skills through co-creation work with others. In PBL, students can use technology and knowledge they studied to address real issues and learn how to take initiative and responsibility, build their confidence, solve problems, work in teams, communicate ideas and manage themselves more effectively. PBL should be introduced with the aim of developing the competencies listed in Table 23. Although these competencies are not developed in only diploma education, these skills should be developed step-by-step from primary education.

Disparity Between Industrial Human Resource Demand and TVET The demand for new hires was the greatest for machine operators (30.9%) and manufacturing workers (35.2%) categories. These two categories are very much part of employees in the firm. The most commonly cited reason for this demand was that many workers quit their job every year (40%). Increasing production capacity was the second most common reason, cited by 33% of respondents. Of the respondents, 17% demand new employees because it is difficult to find qualified and technically skilled staff.

Considering the context mentioned above, firms are searching for personnel, especially machine operators and manufacturing workers. Firms also pointed out the lack of working experience or maturity as the weakness of TVET graduates. Graduates of TSC and TTC will have a competitive advantage if the vocational training provided by TSC or TTC succeed in targeting people that want to be machine operators and manufacturing workers and revised their course content to be more practical by taking industry demands into account. During the survey, firms provided their recommendations and opinions. The main points were that the courses should be provided based on the industry demand, provide the opportunity for students to have practical experience, provide training that covers the latest technology, and curriculums should be revised properly.

TVET institutions generally do not provide specific training for individual firms, and firms do not expect TVET institutions to do it. Accordingly, 66.3% of companies had their own training plan with a variety of content such as machine operation,

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maintenance, technical skills, safety, and marketing. They plan these programs for the coming year and allocate a budget for those activities to fill the need. Therefore, TVET can contribute more to developing human resources by providing education and training based on industry demands. However, even if training is practical, firms need internal or external training so that their workers meet the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own demand because there are limitations in public education and training. With the exception of JVs and similar programs, TVET institutions cannot provide training programs specific to their course curriculum. In that case, B2B support could be a conceivable strategy to develop their human recourses beyond the limitations of TVET. As shown in Figures 27 and 28, many firms have their own budget for annual training and seek a better way to develop their human resources through internal training or other training programs.

There is room for the private sector, for both Bangladeshi and foreign companies, to contribute to this field.

In summary, the course curriculum of TVET institutions should be developed for target job categories by considering the institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academic level and the technical skills demanded by industry. TVET institutes should address this issue by coordinating with concerned ministries and agencies and reflecting the needs of the firms in a more multifaceted manner.

Lack of Employment Support by TVET Institutions Although there are job placement cells in some TVET institutions, especially polytechnic institutions, this initiative was only recently introduced under the Skills and Training Enhancement Project (STEP), which is a joint project of the World Bank and the Government of Bangladesh. However, the function of the cells is limited at this moment. Even worse, the records of graduates are not properly maintained. The proportion of firms in the survey that refer to employment opportunities from TVET institutions was small (3.5%) compared with other sources, having mean of the level of satisfaction of 2.77 (95 CI 2.61 to 2.92) on a five-point scale.

The firms that thought that information sharing mechanisms are not adequate pointed out that TVET institutions do not provide the information of job seekers to firms. It seems that communication between TVET institutions and industry is lacking. These

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firms suggested that TVET institutions as well as job seekers should send CVs via online or e-mail, and TVET institutions could try to establish better connections with industry to expand their internship program. In addition, the survey results show that firms that provide internship programs with TVET institutions could continuously recruit, and the internship program could serve to recruit new employees as well as improve the graduateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technical skills and provide valuable experience. At present, although 45.9% of firms do not have an internship program with TVET institutions, firms were interested in starting a program. In the same context, some industries also have interest in establishing joint venture projects with TVET institutions if the opportunity is likely to bring some benefit for the firm. Thus, TVET institutions should seek to develop internship programs or joint ventures that could provide opportunities for their students to gain practical experience in their fields and enhance their employability.

Conclusion Despite the limitations in the data collected from 322 firms in seven sectors (agrofood, construction, transport equipment, light engineering, ready-made garments, leather, and others), this study demonstrates the factors driving the disparity between the demand for industrial human resources and TVET institutions in Bangladesh. It also identifies the barriers that prevent accelerated expansion of the industrial sector.

The study recommends that, to address the disparity between the demand for industrial human resources and TVET institutions in Bangladesh, three actions should be pursued. First, the course curriculum and quality of teaching at TVET institutions should be developed by considering each institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academic level and the demand for specific technical skills and knowledge for each sector and fundamental competency. Second, TVET institutions should develop internship programs to provide their students opportunity to gain practical experience. Third, B2B support could be a useful strategy to develop their human recourses beyond the limitation of TVET because firms need internal or outside of training to develop their workers to meet their own demand.

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Although there has been a significant development of the industrial sector in Bangladesh, many problems still exist that are outside the scope of this study. Some of these problems include the high rate of unemployment, institutional capacity weaknesses such as the lack of a research and development systems, insufficient learning environments for teachers and students, and lack of industry-based practical training.

Through social and economic means, human resources development in the industrial sector contributes to improving work environments and is one of the cornerstones of development of a country. It is also an indicator for the achievement of becoming a middle-income country as outlined in the perspective plan of Bangladesh 2010-2021 (Vision 2021). The goal of the vision is meaningfully achieved when human resources in the industrial sectors are attained. Therefore, policymakers and planners in government and TVET institutes must formulate comprehensive policies and programs that target specific job categories with an appropriate curriculum, consider issues in operational feasibility, achieve effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and attain acceptability for acceleration and expansion for the industrial sector in Bangladesh.

References Ito, T., Nakamura, Y., & Yamaguchi, Y. (2016). Industry sector human resource needs survey in Bangladesh survey report. Saitama: IC Net Limited Publication.

Government of Bangladesh. (2012). Perspective plan of Bangladesh 2010-2021 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Making vision 2021 a reality. Dhaka: General Economics Division Planning Commission, Government of the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Republic of Bangladesh.

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Article 10 Conscientiousness and Motivating Factors: Can They Contribute With Each Other Among TVET Teachers?

Milan Shrestha Kathmandu University School of Education, Lalitpur, Nepal Abstract The conscientiousness and motivating factors among TVET teachers are the central issues of the human resource management. Conceivably, the conscientiousness and motivating factors are associated with each other. In this context, teachers having high conscientiousness and motivation are the prime need to get organizational success and higher educational achievements in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academia. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why the ensuring of conscientiousness and motivating factors are becoming necessity and obligatory tasks to deliver quality education in TVET schools. This consideration is crucial to explore the contributions of conscientiousness and motivating factors with each other in the context of Nepal. Taking into an account, the conscientiousness and motivation are considerable factors to ensure each other in school setting. So, my intention is to assess the level of conscientiousness and motivating factors, and examine the contribution of conscientiousness and motivation with each other among TVET teachers of Nepal. For these purposes, the researcher employed the post-positivist paradigm with cross-sectional survey approaches and collected information via a selfadministered questionnaire from 302 TVET teachers under different clusters. Then, the researcher analyzed the collected information via employing the descriptive statistics and parametric tests like Karl Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis. After this, the researcher discussed the results of this study incorporating the social capital theory. However, this study explored the high conscientiousness and moderate level of motivating factors among TVET school teachers. Likewise, there is a positive correlation between conscientiousness and motivating factors (work itself, promotion, and recognition) among TVET teachers of Nepal. Furthermore, the increment in conscientiousness contributes to enhance the motivating factors and vice

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versa. The boosting of conscientiousness and motivating factors collaboratively increased the work performances and efficiency of teachers. Consequently, it contributes the academia to increase their educational achievements. That’s why, the thrust of conscientiousness and motivating factors in job leads to obtain high academic success in the academia.

Keywords: Motivating Factors; Conscientiousness; Work; Promotion; Recognition; Social Capital; TVET Teachers Introduction The TVET program is the crucial concerns of this century. It is associated with the employment (Asian Development Bank [ADB], 2015) by preparing the skilled human resources for job market. This effort enhances the employment, generates the economic capital, and contributes in national economy (Bhurtel, 2015). This will happen when the TVET programs effectively have run. For this purpose, the contributions of TVET teachers were crucial because their performance in school determines the effectiveness of TVET programs (Bukit, 2012). Furthermore, the performance of TVET teachers is associated with the high level of conscientiousness and motivation in their jobs.

The conscientiousness is the discretionary activity that goes beyond the job description (Muhammad, 2012) and it is associated to loyalty with the indispensable intention for involving in the job. In addition, the conscientiousness is related to that behavior which performs the assigned jobs within the deadlines (Mushtaq & Umar, 2015) with full dedication towards the organizations. Moreover, the conscientiousness is one of the major dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior (Smith, Organ, & Near, 1983) and “big five personality traits” (Komarraju, Karau, & Schmeck, 2009).

These both concepts elucidate that the conscientiousness is associated with the motivating factor (Hart, Stasson, Mahoney, & Story, 2007) and they enhance with each other. Considering it, the motivating (intrinsic) factors as the part of job satisfaction influences the conscientiousness. In the meantime, conscientiousness is identified as the strong predictors of motivating factors (Clark & Schroth, 2010; Tomsik, 2018).

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The motivating factors refer as the intrinsic components of job satisfaction (Robbins, Judge, & Vohra, 2013). It is based on Herzbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s motivation hygiene theory (Tan & Waheed, 2011) where the internal vigor elucidates as the causes of employee motivation (Steers, Steers, & Shapiro, 2004). This force is known as the intrinsic factors, and it includes promotional opportunities, recognition, work itself, advancement possibilities, appreciation, and triumph in bearing responsibility (Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Khadka, 2010; Ranasinghe, 2016). Considering it, this study encompassed work itself, promotion and advancement, and recognition and appreciation as the dimensions of intrinsic factors among TVET teachers.

Likewise, the motivator factors reflect as the attitude towards the job and conscientiousness as the behavior (Jackson et al., 2010) performs in the jobs. These both are influenced by the social capital of TVET teachers. The social capital is the predisposition of the social status, values, and power which is seen as the social outlooks (Bourdieu, 1986) of the individual. This social outlook is visible as the social positioning, interaction and relationship which guided the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attitudes and behaviors. For instance, the enriched social capital develops the well-satisfied attitudes towards the job (Agneessens & Wittek, 2008). This job satisfied attitude creates the motivation (Tietjen & Myers, 1998; Varma, 2019) among employees regarding work itself, promotion, and recognition. The attitude as the motivation influences the employees to be loyal, dedicated, obedient, and conscious towards the jobs (Dehaloo, 2011) and further performs the tasks before deadline in organization. In addition, the well-loaded social capital within teachers also performs the job beyond their duties without expecting any benefits from the school. So, the social capital is crucial to determine the attitude (motivation) and conscientiousness behavior among TVET teachers.

The high level of conscientiousness and motivation among TVET teachers is associated with the preparation of skillful human resources for the job market. In context of Nepal, there is lack of skillful personnel in the job markets and the similar situation can be seen even in the foreign employment. The lack of skillful human resources is the one of the major factors of the low employment, productivity, economic growth (Kafle, 2007; Ministry of Labour and Employment [MOLE], 2016), GDP, and per capita

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income in Nepal (MOLE, 2016). Similarly, Nepal faces serious lost in foreign trade (e.g.

Department of Customs [DOC], 2018), minimal wages of employers in foreign employment (e.g. International Labour Organization [ILO], 2017), and slow infrastructural development (Ministry of Finance [MOF], 2014) of the nation. These all discrepancies are the example of low economic development of the country. The poor economy of the country causes the lack of skillful, qualitative, and adequate number of human resources in the job market. This lacking in the work forces has happened due to the plentiful of factors. Among them, presence of low loaded conscientiousness and poorly motivated teachers in the TVET schools is burning one.

Consequently, both the enhancing motivating factors and the conscientiousness among employees, are crucial activities for the TVET School. Without conscientious and motivated teachers, the TVET School will not achieve the organizational effectiveness and success. Correspondingly, its lacking among teachers do not give a guarantee of satisfactory educational achievement among students. As a result, deficient of these two factors will turn the schools in failure state. So, the teachers need to equip with the well conscientiousness and motivation in schools for providing quality education. In this context, the researcher hardly found any study done in the issues of relationship between motivating factors and conscientiousness of TVET teachers in Nepal.

Moreover, in Nepalese context, the influences of motivating factors on conscientiousness are till in puzzle. So, the researcher aims to measure the level of motivating factors and conscientiousness and assess the contribution of the motivating factors in conscientiousness among TVET teachers.

Theoretical Review and Hypothesis There are a number of previous studies which investigate the association between the conscientiousness and motivating factors in academia (e.g. Bowling, 2009; Hart, Stasson, Mahoney, & Story, 2007). Moreover, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Big five personality traitsâ&#x20AC;? assumed that the conscientiousness is the good predictors of intrinsic motivators (Tomsik, 2018) in a job. Contrary to it, some scholars (e.g. Organ & Lingl, 1995; DeNeve & Cooper, 1998; Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002) claim that the high level of motivating factors also differ the conscientiousness. In this situation, the researcher wants to assess the degree of mutual enhancement between conscientiousness and motivator

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factors among TVET teachers in Nepalese context. Therefore, it was hypothesized that: H1: Conscientiousness varies across the motivating factors of TVET teachers.

H2: Motivating factors predict the conscientiousness among TVET teachers.

Methodology The researcher poses the post positivist philosophy and espoused the cross-sectional survey as the research design, which is confirmatory in nature. This study declared the entire TVET schools of Nepal as the study area and each TVET teacher as the unit of analysis. Thus, the researcher identified the sample size (n = 302) by using Yamane (1967) approaches at 95 % confidence limit from the study population (N = 2222) as entire TVET teachers (MOEST, 2018) of Nepal. In addition, the researcher randomly selected 302 TVET teachers by performing cluster sampling.

Then, the researcher constructed likert scale and it incorporated 15 likert items associated with two constructs: motivating factors (11 items) and conscientiousness (4 items) respectively. More specifically, the motivating factors are composed of three sub indicators: work itself (6 items), promotion (3 items), and recognition (2 items) respectively. Meanwhile, the researcher ensured the internal consistency of this scale through deriving the Cronbach’s alpha from pilot testing. The researcher took 30 number of sample size according to the Hertzog (2008) in pilot testing and obtained Cronbach’s alpha value of motivating factors and conscientiousness as .834 and .718 respectively. Likewise, the Cronbach’s alpha values belongs to sub indicators of motivator factors such as work itself (.731), promotion (.805), and recognition (.770) respectively. The derived Cronbach’s alpha values of each indicator and sub indicators are above 0.7, which refer that the scale is highly reliable (Santos, 1999).

After ensuring the internal consistency of the scale, the researcher collected the data from the respondents via self-administer questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed through s both descriptive and inferential statistics, namely, frequency, percent, mean and standard deviation etc. Similarly, descriptive statistics is used for assessing the level of motivating factors and conscientiousness. For this purpose,

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researcher adopted the Best (1977) procedure for categorizing the obtained responses as follows: đ??ťđ?&#x2018;&#x2013;đ?&#x2018;&#x201D;â&#x201E;&#x17D;đ?&#x2018;&#x2019;đ?&#x2018;&#x; đ?&#x2018; đ?&#x2018;?đ?&#x2018;&#x153;đ?&#x2018;&#x;đ?&#x2018;&#x2019;â&#x2C6;&#x2019;đ??żđ?&#x2018;&#x153;đ?&#x2018;¤đ?&#x2018;&#x2019;đ?&#x2018;&#x; đ?&#x2018; đ?&#x2018;?đ?&#x2018;&#x153;đ?&#x2018;&#x;đ?&#x2018;&#x2019; đ?&#x2018; đ?&#x2018;˘đ?&#x2018;&#x161;đ?&#x2018;?đ?&#x2018;&#x2019;đ?&#x2018;&#x; đ?&#x2018;&#x153;đ?&#x2018;&#x201C; đ??żđ?&#x2018;&#x2019;đ?&#x2018;Łđ?&#x2018;&#x2019;đ?&#x2018;&#x2122;đ?&#x2018;

=

5â&#x2C6;&#x2019;1 3

4

= 3 = 1. 33

The researcher categorized the responses based on the mean scores of all indicators in three levels as low (1.00-2.33), moderate (2.34-3.66), and high (3.67-5.00) respectively. Likewise, the researcher employed the Karl Pearsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s correlation and linear regression analysis for examining the relationship between motivating factors and conscientiousness. Before employing these tests, the researcher performed statistical assumptions (e.g. normal distribution, absence of multicollinearity, and autocorrelation and linearity test) to ensure its appropriateness in this study.

Results Level of Motivating Factors and Conscientiousness The researcher derived the motivational level of respondents by incorporating the mean score of work, promotion, and recognition respectively. After this, the overall mean score of motivation factor is categorized in three levels; high, moderate, and low respectively (Table 1). Meanwhile, the researcher also obtained the conscientiousness by sorting its mean score in three levels alike the motivating factors in Table 1.

Table 1: Intensity of Conscientiousness and Motivating Factors Indicators Work itself Promotion Recognition Motivators factor Conscientiousness

Mean 4.05 2.63 2.63 3.55 4.23

Std. Deviation .61 .95 .95 .60 .79

Level High Moderate Moderate Moderate High

Table 1 divulges the high level of work itself (Mean =4.05) as one of the motivating factors in the job among TVET teachers. However, the other two factors (promotion

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and recognition) consist only moderate level in relation to motivation in the job. As a result, the TVET teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; poses only moderate level of motivation in their job. In contrary to it, they experienced the high level (Mean = 4.23, SD = .79) of conscientiousness as the part of organizational citizenship behavior in TVET schools.

Description of Conscientiousness and Motivating Factors by Their Levels This study also included the frequency and percentage of the respondents regarding their attitudes towards the motivating factors and conscientiousness in three levels (Table 2).

Table 2: Frequency of Conscientiousness and Motivating Factors via their Levels Indicators Work itself Promotion Recognition Motivating Factors Conscientiousness

Low N 3 99 21 7 15

% 1.0 32.8 7.0 2.3 5.0

Moderate N % 82 27.2 138 45.7 135 44.7 162 53.6 42 13.9

High N 217 65 146 133 245

% 71.8 21.7 48.3 44.0 81.1

Among the dimensions of motivating factors, the two-third (N = 217, % = 71.8) respondents experienced the high level of motivation regarding work itself and remaining less than one-third portion possessed moderate and low level. Considering it, only one percent (N = 3) TVET teachers claimed that they had low level of motivation due to their nature of work. Likewise, slightly more teachers are highly motivated (N= 146, % = 48.3) due to recognition. It is followed by the moderate level of responses. Considering it, the differences between the moderate and high level is only few in numbers (N = 11) but the differences are huge in considering the moderate-low level (N = 114) and high-low level (N =125) respectively. In contrary to the above dimensions of motivating factors, the more TVET teachers expressed the moderate satisfaction than high level regarding their promotion, they were 138 (% = 45.7) in numbers. It is followed by low level (N= 99, % = 32.8) which is more by 34 numbers than high level responded teachers in terms of promotion.

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Overall, the majority respondents (N = 162, %= 53.6) claimed that they were moderately motivated in the job and 44 percent possessed the high level of motivation in TVET academia. In relation to it, the remaining a few respondents (N = 7, % = 2.3) expressed low motivation in their work. Despite it, more than four-fifth respondents (N = 245, % = 81.1) reflected the high degree of conscientiousness and remaining (N = 57, % = 18.9) belonged to moderate and low levels respectively.

Assumptions of Parametric Test The researcher ensured the four assumptions of parametric test to employ the Karl Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis in this research. Among them, the first assumption advocates the normality test which it is ensured via performing Skewness and Kurtosis. The derived values of all Skewness (-1.217 to .188) and Kurtosis (-.608 to 1.089) are in between the values +2 to -2, which is defined as the normal distribution according to Garson (2012). The second and third assumption is associated with the multicollinerity and autocorrelation. Their derived values are in Table 3.

Table 3: Assumptions of Multicollinearity and Autocorrelation for the Parametric Test

Model Predictors 1 2 3

Conscientiousness Work Itself Promotion Recognition Motivator Factors

Collinearity Statistics Tolerance VIF Motivator factors .860 1.163 .798 1.253 Conscientiousness .788 1.270 .685 1.459 Conscientiousness .420 2.383 Dependent Variable

DurbinWatson 1.699 1.711a 1.718 a 1.639a 1.688a

The multicollinerity is tested by Tolerance and Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) respectively. The researcher derived all Tolerance (.420 to .860) values are greater than (T<.20) and VIF (1.163 to 2.383) values are lesser than VIF>4.0 respectively. So, these values of Tolerance and VIF signifies that there is absent of multicollinerity between conscientiousness and motivator factors (e.g. Garson, 2012). The third

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assumption explains the autocorrelation and it is derived from Durbin-Watson test (Field, 2009). The derived value of Durbin-Watson test ranges from 1.639 to 1.718 respectively. According to the Garson (2012) the normal values of Durbin-Watson test ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 for independence observation. So, the derived values disclose that there is no autocorrelation between conscientiousness and motivator factors in this study. Finally, the fourth assumptions explains the linearity and it is derived from the graphical method particularly plotted the scatters of conscientiousness against overall motivating factors respectively in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Assumption of Linearity regarding Parametric Test The obtained scatter plots are clustered around the straight line and it was projected in straight line. The formulation of straight line ensured the assumptions of linearity in this study. Thus, the ensured of the normal distribution, linearity, and absent of multicollinerity and autocorrelation allows the parametric test (Sreejech, Mohapatra, & Anusree, 2014) to examine the relationship between motivating factors and conscientiousness in this study.

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Relationship Between Motivator Factors and Conscientiousness The researcher employed the Karl Pearson correlation test to examine the relationship between motivating factors and conscientiousness. The obtained statistical inferences between motivating factors (work itself, promotion, and recognition) and conscientiousness are presented in Table4.

Table 4: Correlation between Motivating Factors and Conscientiousness

Indicators

Conscientious ness

Work Itself

Promoti on

Conscientiousne 1 ss Work Itself .342** 1 ** Promotion .180 .274** 1 ** ** Recognition .284 .442 .454** Motivator .351** .780** .758** Factors **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Recognit ion

Motivat or Factors

1 .762**

1

The Table 4 portrays the correlation values (r) and it is sorted in the five continuum according to Singh (2007) as follows: negligible (0-0.2), low (0.2-0.4), moderate (0.40.6), high (0.6-0.8) and high (0.8-1.0) respectively for the purpose of analysis.

Considering it, the derived r values of the all components of motivators factors: work itself (r =.780**, p<.01), promotion (r =.758**, p<.01), and recognition (r =.762**, p<.01) demonstrates high relationship with overall values of motivating among TVET teachers.

Similarly, the correlation between the motivating factors shows the moderate relationship with each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s except work itself and recognition (r =.274**, p<.01) which relationship is low in degree. In addition, these all motivator factors were low correlated with the conscientiousness except promotion (r =.180**, p<.01) which is negligible in relations. Furthermore, the overall the correlation value (r =.351**, p<.01)

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between motivating factors and conscientiousness portrayed the low level of associations with each others.

Influences of Motivating factors and Conscientiousness With Each Other The researcher employed the linear regression analysis to assess the influences of conscientiousness on motivator factors and vice versa. In first model, the motivating factors is considered as the dependent variable and conscientiousness as an independent variables in this regression model as Y = a + bx (e.g. Kerlinger, 2011). In this equation, “Y” refers to dependent and “x” refers to independent variable.

Similarly, in second model, the dependent and independent variables are referred as conscientiousness and motivating factors respectively. In this model, the linear regression model is defined as X = a + by and refers “X” and “y” as dependent and independent variables respectively. Likewise, the constant value and regression coefficients were termed as “a” and “b” respectively in these both regression equation.

Considering to it, the researcher derived the three output of each model but projected them all in single table while computing the regression analysis in this study (Table 5).

Table 5: Regression Analysis of Relationship between Motivating Factors and Conscientiousness UC SC T Sig. R RS AR ANOVA a S B SE Beta F Sig. 1 (Constant) 2.41 .18 13.45 .00 Conscientio .27 .04 .35 6.49 .00 .35a1 .12 .12 42.06 .00b1 usness 2 (Constant) 2.61 .25 10.32 .00 Motivating .45 .07 .35 6.48 .00 .35a2 .12 .12 42.00 .00b2 Factors Dependent Variable: a1: Motivating Factors, a2: Conscientiousness Predictors: (Constant), b1: Conscientiousness, b2: Motivating Factors * UC= Unstandardized Coefficients, SC= Standardized Coefficients, SE= Std. Error, RS= R Square, ARS = Adjusted R Square Model

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Likewise, the Table 5 discloses the conscientiousness and motivating factors as the predictors of motivator factors and conscientiousness in first and second regression model correspondingly. Then, in the second output, these both models portray the low level of correlation (R = .34) between conscientiousness and motivating factors and vice versa. Similarly, the obtained values of adjusted R square (r2 = .12 ď&#x201A;´ 100 = 12%) explain that the both regression models fairly fit with the data. Moreover, it reveals that the predictor in both models decides 12 percent variance of dependent variable. Likewise, the derived values of ANOVA states the overall first (F = 42.06, p = .00) and second model (F = 42.00, p = .00) of regression analysis is significant to influence motivating factors by conscientiousness and vice versa.

Furthermore, the first model elucidates the regression model as Y = 2.41 + .27x. This regression equation reveals that 1 unit change in conscientiousness induce .27 units amend in motivator factors. It signifies that conscientiousness independently makes 27 % changes in motivator factors (e.g. Carver & Nash, 2012). Similarly, the derived values regarding the coefficients (b2) in regression analysis (X = 2.61 + .45y) shows the 1 unit alternations of motivator factors induce .45 unit changes in the conscientiousness.

More specifically, it explains that motivating factors contribute 45 % changes in conscientiousness (e.g. Carver & Nash, 2012) among TVET teachers. These derived outcomes figures outs that the motivating factors influence more in conscientiousness rather than motivating factor that is enhanced by conscientiousness in this study.

Discussions of Findings Motivating Factors: Moderate Levels Among TVET Teachers The findings ascertain that the TVET teachers demonstrate the moderate level of motivators. Moreover, they pose the moderate degree in terms of their promotion and recognition. However, the researcher found, they were highly motivated to their work itself. This result is many more analogous to the study done by Shrestha (2019).

This similarity happens due to the uniformity of the study area and existing social capital. In addition, the similarity is also seen in the frequency of respondents, where this studies alike Shrestha (2018) reveals that the majority of respondents demonstrated the moderate level of motivating factors. Contrary to it, this study

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portrays the majority number of teacher poses the high level of motivation through recognition. However, the study done by Shrestha states that the majority poses moderate level in promotion. This little discrepancy is due to the differences in the population group between these two studies. The research accomplished by Shrestha (2018) is associated with the general school teachers but this study is of TVET schools.

So, the results between these studies seem similar except some few contradictions like in case of promotions.

The TVET teachers expressed the high level of work itself due to the provisions of well-defined job description, proper communication, absent of role ambiguity and work load, and comfort work schedules. Thus, presence of these factors contributes TVET teachers pose the moderate level of motivation among overall motivating factors. In addition, the motivation levels of teachers are also determined by the social capital (Ozan, Ozdemir, & Yaras, 2017). In relation to it, Szreter (2012) inscribes the social capital as the networks and power-sharing of people in the society. It builds the social identity and positions of people (Szreter, 2012) but their power status might be varies. These differences in power exercise depend on their occupation (Schooler & Schoenbach, 1994). For instance, the teachers were engaged in many social works beyond teaching in school. So, they were in continuous touch and doing social interaction with society. As a result, the teachers got more opportunity to exercise power as influencing people in society. This happens due to presence of high social capital among teachers and their job is considered as noble occupation. This gracious nature of the job and societal positioning highly motivate the TVET teachers in their job.

However, the promotion and recognition moderately contributes the motivation level among TVET teachers. In Nepalese context, the teachers were promoted in upper class but in same level (Post) among teachers (Ministry of Education and Sports [MOES], 2000). This provision of promotion makes teachers feel that they were in same post. This consideration in jobs makes the TVET teachers express only the moderate level in promotion. Likewise, the TVET teachers got the moderate level of social respect, which drives them to pose the moderate level of satisfaction regarding recognition. For instance, the doctors, engineers like professional have the high level of

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recognition and appreciation in the society (Dolton, Marcenaro, Vries, & She, 2018) than teachers. This contrast in respect and appreciation are associated with the social capital. These trends of societal preferences and respect contribute to determine the moderate level of motivation regarding recognition among TVET teachers. Thus, the social capital is prominent to settle the motivation level regarding overall motivating factors besides promotion and recognition. Overall, the presence of the motivation enhances the performances (Inayatullah & Jehangir, 2012) and work effectiveness (Awerosno, 2017) among TVET teachers which further contributes to achieve organizational success.

Conscientiousness: High Degree Among TVET Teachers The TVET teacher disclosed the high degree of conscientiousness in this study and majority of respondents also expressed the high conscientiousness. This result is similar to the Shrestha (2019) where the more than 80 % respondents pose the high conscientiousness. The display of the high conscientiousness refers that the TVET teachers are obedience to the rules and regulation of school (e.g. Kilince, 2014), dedicated to the work, and perform works and duties on time. This conscientiousness is associated with the existing social capital (Tulin, Lancee, & Volker, 2018) and it is also applicable in context of TVET teachers. The social capital guides TVET teachers to carry the affirmative cognition, feelings, and behaviors regarding their jobs. This positive attitude helps them to perform compliance behavior (Rezaei, Jahangirpour, Mousavi, & Mousavi, 2014) as their part of duties and responsibilities in the school.

Likewise, if the social capital is rich in employees, they maintain high ethics (Ayios, Jeurissen, Manning, & Spence, 2014) in the organization. In addition, they also follow the disciplinary code and perform sufficient efforts to fulfilling the duties in the organizations. Thus, the presence of high conscientiousness among teachers contributes them to elevate the job performance (Hassan, Akhtar, & Yilmaz, 2016), work effectiveness (Youshan & Hassan, 2015) and finally attains the organizational success.

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Relationship Between Conscientiousness and Motivating Factors The results derived from the statistical inferences establish the positive relationship between motivating factors and conscientiousness. This finding is analogous to the previous studies (e.g. Jugovic et al., 2012; Komarraju, Karau, & Schmeck, 2009), which confirm that there is significant relationship between conscientiousness and intrinsic motivation. In addition, Shrestha (2018) asserts the moderate relationship between intrinsic motivating factors and conscientiousness among teachers. Moreover, the motivating factors are the attitudes (Robbins, Judge, & Vohra, 2013) and conscientiousness as the organizational-level behavior (Newland, 2012) of the TVET teachers. The most remarkable features are that the both attitudes and behavior are associated (Robbins, Judge, & Vohra, 2013) and also accompanied by the societal values, beliefs, power, status, and cognition. These all features collectively represent the social capital. They play crucial role to determine both the attitudes and behavior of school teachers. Thus, the social capital persuades the affirmative relationship between motivating factors and conscientiousness, and positively enhanced with each other.

In one hand, this study derives that the increases in conscientiousness improve the motivating factors. This result is alike to the Komarraju, Karau, and Schmeck (2009), where author explores conscientiousness that significantly predicts ( = .320) the motivating factors. The conscientiousness is a major component of “Big five personality traits” and it intrinsically motivates the teachers for choosing the profession, doing the job tasks, and performs high academic achievements. In this context, Tomsik (2018) argues that the conscientiousness shapes the personality and the personality influence the motivation level among teachers. The most notable feature is that this argument is highly relevant among TVET teachers. That’s why the soaring level of conscientiousness gives higher a number of motivations in their job. So, the conscientiousness strongly predicts the motivating factors (Clark & Schroth, 2010; Tomsik, 2018) in this research. In other hand, this study reveals that motivating factors heavily influences the conscientiousness. More precisely, the motivating factors contribute about half of the hundredth in conscientiousness. This happens due to the presence of pleasant attitudes towards jobs and it finally yields the satisfactory compliance behavior among teachers.

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Furthermore, the researcher found the differences in the amount of enhancement between conscientiousness and motivating factors and vice versa. More specifically, the motivating factors influence more in conscientiousness rather than conscientiousness enhances motivating factors. However, this result contradicts the previous established literature. Many authors (e.g. Clark & Schroth, 2010; Tomsik, 2018) claim that the conscientiousness is strong predictors of motivating factors. This variation influences the relationship between conscientiousness and motivating factors due to the existing social capital. It makes teaching more comfortable by increasing high conscientiousness among TVET teachers. In contrary to it, due to low opportunity of promotion and modest recognition makes conscientiousness influence the least amount of motivation among employees.

Overall, the social capital influentially contributes both the motivating factors and the conscientiousness, and even establishes their affirmative relationships. Furthermore, the relationship between them creates the synergy in organization and it enormously benefits the school by getting high academic performances (Conrad & Patry, 2012), work effectiveness, work productivity (Cubel, Nuevo-Chiquero, Sanchez-Pages, & Vidal-Fernandez, 2016), and ultimately contributes to achieve organizational success.

Conclusion The findings ascertain that the presence of positive attitude and dignified nature of work contributes TVET teachers for demonstrating high conscientiousness and moderate level of motivating factors respectively. Likewise, the association between attitude and behavior reflects the positive relationship between conscientiousness and motivating factors, and they influence each other. However, the degree of contribution between conscientiousness and motivating factors seems differences among TVET teachers. This variation is due to the existing social capital. It facilitates teaching as a noble profession, which motivates teachers to exhibit high conscientiousness whereas the existence of low promotion and recognition cause conscientiousness to furnish diminutive intensity on motivating factors. Moreover, the affirmative bonding between conscientiousness and motivating factors construct the positive vibes in school.

Furthermore, it increases the academic performances, productivity, effectiveness, and

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success among schools. These are extremely needed in the arena of vocational and technical education in relation to Nepalese context.

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