The present comparative study had its origin in reports submitted by the twenty-three countries that participated in an international conference held in Denver, Colorado, United States of America, in June 1976. This conference (and a number of similar conferences) highlighted the need for more accurate information in technical and vocational education, particularly as regards ongoing reforms and innovations. It was felt, therefore, that Unesco would render a service to its Member States by publishing these reports in the form of a condensed comparative study.

We wish to express our appreciation to all those who prepared these reports along given guidelines, thus greatly facilitating the comparative analysis. We also wish to thank Dr Mary Ann Calkins Pilain, Unesco consultant, who compiled the first draft of the study which was then sent out for revision to the authorities concerned. The final version is based on the comments received from these countries.

The views expressed in this book are those of the individuals concerned and do not necessarily reflect those of Unesco. The designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Unesco Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.




1. Introduction



Countries undertaking the enormous task of restructuring, reorienting and expanding their educational systems to meet development needs are devoting more and more attention to the role of technical and vocational education. Indeed, political leaders, economic planners and educators in many countries appear to consider the development of technical and vocational education as the keystone of an educational system best adapted to the individual and the society in which he or she lives. In recent years, progress has been made not only in expanding technical and vocational education to meet skilled manpower needs but also in terms of broad reform directed at making education as a whole more responsive to social and economic development requirements. Countries engaged in this process are thus seeking the means by which obstacles to progress may be most rapidly and effectively removed.

Unesco has been involved for a number of years in promoting the development of technical and vocational education in many areas of the world. Recently, however, these efforts have taken on a new dimension as virtually all countries have been engaged in rethinking their educational systems and have concluded that a much larger place must be given to technical and vocational education if education is to be responsive to contemporary conditions. With the adoption by its General Conference, at its eighteenth session in November 1974, of the Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education, Unesco acquired a comprehensive set of internationally accepted policy guidelines covering all aspects of technical and vocational education and its role within education as a whole.

On the basis of the provisions contained in this Revised Recommendation under the heading ‘International Co-operation’,1 Unesco is currently engaged in developing information resources directed particularly to the needs of developing countries, and in promoting their distribution worldwide. This information strategy is designed to disseminate information concerning issues and innovations in technical and vocational education so that Member States may benefit from common experiences; but it is also intended actively to promote the collection, analysis and evaluation of information as well as the carrying out of research concerning problems in technical and vocational education and possible solutions.

　　1. See Appendix I, ‘Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education’, paras. 93-100, 　　on pages 134-5.

The present study has been prepared with the above objectives in mind. It is a report on, and a comparative analysis of, the experience of twenty-three developing countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burma, Chile, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Liberia, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Uganda, Upper Volta and Uruguay. The material upon which the study is based was made available by these countries on the occasion of their participation in the International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education, sponsored in 1976 by the United States Office of Education in co-operation with Unesco and the Inter-American Development Bank. Participants in the meeting were requested to prepare country reports and these provide a clear picture of the present state of technical and vocational education in a fair sample of developing countries, as well as common problems of development and general trends in innovation.

The country reports were prepared according to guidelines provided by Unesco. The guidelines, reproduced in Appendix II, are divided into two major parts. The first calls for a profile of technical and vocational education in the country; while the second requests an analysis of the problems faced by the country in developing technical and vocational education and of the innovations undertaken to solve these problems. This study follows the same pattern, with Chapters 2-5 sketching a general profile of technical and vocational education in these countries, and Chapter 6 dealing with common problems of development and trends in innovation.

It is evident from the reports that the twenty-three countries are making considerable efforts to develop and expand technical and vocational education within the context of overall educational reform, despite the obstacles barring the way. In the last five years, broad policies for ‘outer’ reform have been adopted which often represent a marked departure from traditional approaches to education, and new structures are being created. These new policies and reforms have as their major goal the creation of more flexible educational structures and greater educational opportunities in accordance with the concept of lifelong education. Technical and vocational education has come to occupy a large place in these new approaches because of the interlinked problems (which in fact confront numerous countries at all levels of development) of lack of skilled manpower for economic development and high rates of under- and unemployment among the products of the traditional education systems. Yet if technical and vocational education is to contribute to solving these problems, its implementation requires in many countries a series of ‘inner’ reforms and improvements of technical and vocational education itself. The central issue is to determine those areas in which action towards inner reform and improvement may most effectively be taken and in which this action will have the broadest impact; that is, areas where urgent practical measures may be taken to answer immediate needs while at the same time serving longer range development goals. The major purpose of this study is to aid in identifying such areas for action by helping Member States of Unesco to exchange information and share their experience in technical and vocational education.

The three phases of technical and vocational education

The Revised Recommendation identifies three phases of technical and vocational education and contains chapters devoted to the goals, content and organization of each: technical and vocational aspects of general education, technical and vocational education as preparation for an occupational field, and technical and vocational education as continuing education. The three phases taken together constitute technical and vocational education as lifelong education.

Almost all of the countries reporting have taken, or are planning to take, measures to introduce technical and vocational aspects into the general education programme. On the whole, the integration of general technical studies into the required general education curriculum remains in an experimental stage, but steady progress is being made. The main thrust of the various countries' activities is found in the second phase of technical and vocational education: the education and training within the school system of the skilled and qualified manpower needed for development. The last phase receives the least attention for the moment as the facilities are not yet generally available within the educational system to provide continuing education, and the necessary lines of co-ordination between education and employment remain to be worked out. There is a general effort, however, to design programmes of technical and vocational education as preparation for an occupational field in such a way as to prepare graduates to proceed to higher level education or to enter the work force with the possibility of seeking and profiting from continuing education and training at a later date.

Technical and vocational aspects of general education

The programmes which are now available, or being planned, in the countries under study have been designed for the most part in a way that is compatible with the objectives found in the Revised Recommendation. These may be summed up as the provision of an introduction to technology and to the world of work within the general education curriculum so as to orient those with the interest and ability into programmes of technical and vocational education which prepare for employment in a specific occupational field, and to equip those leaving the school system at whatever point with attitudes and skills which render them better able to undertake training and to find work. Some countries emphasize one objective above the others. While, ideally, this phase of technical and vocational education should in no way be considered as preparation or training for employment in a particular field, circumstances in some countries have led to greater emphasis on basic skill training because the majority of children do not continue beyond the primary or lower secondary level.

Most of the countries agree that the introduction of technical and vocational aspects in the required general education curriculum at lower secondary level (and in some cases at upper primary) has the potential of becoming a powerful tool for democratizing education. In this way, technical studies and the occupations to which they lead (vital in terms of development) may become a positive option for young people, which was not the case in the past when the highest value was placed on traditional academic studies while technical studies were considered appropriate only for the less bright.

The following brief descriptions provide a resume of the approaches adopted in the twenty-three countries with a view to including technical and vocational aspects in the general education curriculum.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan is planning to introduce practical studies into the curriculum of the seventh and eighth years of schooling.

Bangladesh

Introductory technical studies in the optional fields of industrial arts, agriculture and home economics have been introduced into the curriculum of the ninth and tenth grades in a few secondary schools. These programmes are available to about 2 per cent of the students enrolled in these grades. Where these studies have been introduced, they represent 25 per cent of the total curriculum and within the studies 33 per cent of the courses are devoted to theory and 66 per cent to practice.

Bolivia

Bolivia has introduced practical or manual activities in the primary curriculum and, in grades VI-VIII, a vocational orientation programme based on local or regional occupations.

Burma

Programmes have been introduced in the sixth to ninth years of schooling in 50 schools, and plans have been made to extend these programmes to 550 schools in the near future. These programmes represent 12 per cent of the total curriculum and are directed primarily to practical skill development.

Chile

Chile has so far not introduced technical and vocational aspects into the general secondary school curriculum, but has concentrated on expanding programmes of secondary technical and vocational education rather than academic education.

Costa Rica

Academic schools in Costa Rica represent 73 per cent of the total institutions for secondary education. In the seventh to ninth grades of the academic schools, industrial arts is offered, representing 8 per cent of the total curriculum. In the tenth to eleventh grades, 16 per cent of the curriculum is devoted to technological studies.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia has undertaken an overall reform of the education system, introducing productive technology in all primary and secondary schools with the aim of thoroughly integrating education and work. The plan of action for the primary curriculum calls for 40 per cent of the time to be devoted to activities at places of work, while in the secondary school curriculum this proportion is to be raised to 60 per cent. Members of the community are involved in the practical instruction of the students.

India

This country plans to introduce technical and vocational aspects in the general education curriculum.

Ivory Coast

The Ivory Coast has introduced a technology stream as a possible option for students in the upper secondary general schools. It is also planned to integrate general technical studies introducing pupils to technology and the world into the curriculum of the upper-primary and lower-secondary grades.

Jordan

Jordan has introduced technical and vocational aspects into the curricula of the academic streams of two new comprehensive secondary schools (one for boys, the other for girls). Three other comprehensive schools are now under construction. Programmes in industry, agriculture, commerce and home economics are offered in the seventh to twelfth years of schooling: in grades VII-IX, three to five hours per week are devoted to one of these areas, and in grades X-XII, five hours per week.

Kenya

Kenya is in the process of introducing technical and vocational aspects into the secondary school curriculum in the fields of industry and commerce. Beginning in 1974, these two fields may be offered as examination fields for the East African Certificate of Education.

Republic of Korea

Students in grades VII-XII of the general secondary schools are required to choose a one-year course in one of the following subjects: industrial technology, commerce, agriculture or home economics. They are in addition required in the course of their secondary education to take a two-year technical crafts course.

Liberia

An industrial arts programme is offered in grades IX-XII in one school. From the academic year beginning in 1977, the country plans to introduce an industrial arts programme in grades VI-IX in some general schools.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, about 25 per cent of pupils enrolled in grades VI-XI have available to them technical and vocational aspects in the fields of industrial arts, agriculture, home economics and commerce. The percentage of the total curriculum devoted to these varies with each field: industrial arts and home economics, 10 per cent; agriculture, 8 per cent; and commerce, 75 per cent.

Nepal

Nepal has introduced elements of general technical and vocational aspects into the curriculum of the sixth and seventh years of all secondary schools, and vocational subjects are allotted 20 per cent of school hours at upper secondary level in the general schools which represent 75 per cent of school enrolment.

Nigeria

One of the major educational objectives of the third National Development Plan is to reform general education by introducing technical and vocational aspects into the curriculum. Although this policy has yet to be implemented, it is planned to incorporate introductory technical subjects into the curriculum of the seventh to ninth years of schooling.

Panama

Panama is introducing a new curriculum for grades VII-IX which has a strong vocational component along with occupational guidance.

Paraguay

Students in grades IV-IX are introduced to practical activities and to the world of work.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone offers programmes in the eighth to twelfth years of schooling in design and technology, agriculture, and home economics. Business programmes are offered, beginning in the tenth or eleventh years of schooling. Ninety-five per cent of students enrolled in the secondary schools have access, if they so choose, to one of the first three programmes, and 45 per cent have access to the business programme.

Thailand

Work education adapted to the local environment is to be incorporated into the curriculum of primary education and lower secondary general education. Practical work will be done outside the schools either under the supervision of parents or at assigned places of work.

Uganda

Uganda plans to introduce practical subjects in grades VI and VII, and at least one technical and vocational subject must be offered in government-assisted secondary schools (grades VIII-XI). These subjects, which include technical drawing, metalwork, woodwork, agriculture, accounting, shorthand, typing, clothing, textiles and home economics, may be examined at 'O' level, that is, offered for an ordinary school leaving certificate. Technical drawing is now offered in one school up to 'A' level, or the examination for completion of higher secondary education and consequent entrance to higher education.

Upper Volta

Technical and vocational aspects have been introduced into the curriculum of one secondary school, but it is planned to extend this to all schools through a reform in which all lower secondary education will become a 'cycle of occupational education' (cycle d'enseignement des m閠iers), thus erasing the distinction between technical and general education.

Uruguay

According to a reform which was already being implemented in 1976, technical and vocational aspects will be introduced into the curriculum of the three years of lower secondary education. These subjects will make up 10 per cent of the total curriculum and will be organized by the Universidad del Trabajo, the division of the educational system responsible for all technical and vocational education, in co-ordination with the general education division.

Technical and vocational education as continuing education

The twenty-three countries concerned in this study are all engaged in strengthening programmes within the school system which lead to occupational qualification. There is also a concerted effort to insert these programmes into the educational system in such a way as to allow those following these programmes to continue in higher studies within the system. In the past, technical and vocational education at secondary level was almost universally terminal; with the development of post-secondary technical education and with the upgrading of secondary technical and vocational education programmes, there is at present a definite trend to create more educational opportunities for students following technical and vocational programmes. This trend is inseparable from the growing realization that skilled and qualified middle-level manpower is essential for economic and social development and, therefore, appropriate educational provision must be made.

Most of the countries have programmes of vocational or occupational training at various levels which come under the authority of ministries other than the Ministry of Education, of autonomous public agencies or of private agencies. The majority of such programmes come under the direction of the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of Labour.

The guidelines for the country reports suggested that figures be given which would provide a picture of the target group for technical and vocational education as preparation for an occupational field. Several of the reports provided detailed figures of enrolments in various institutions, of enrolment trends, of enrolment in the various fields taught. Table 5 provides, in so far as the information allowed, a very general picture of the participation of the 15-22 age group in technical and vocational education.

Several tentative conclusions may be drawn from the information included in Table 5. Technical and vocational education serves a minority of young people enrolled in the education system: enrolment in technical and vocational education in eight of eighteen countries corresponds to 10 per cent or less of total enrolment of the 15-22 age group, and in eight other countries to 20 per cent or less. Eleven countries provided information with regard to female enrolment in technical and vocational education. Of these, seven countries reported that girls constitute 25 per cent or more of enrolment in technical and vocational education. Another country gave figures for commercial education only in which girls make up 50 per cent of the enrolment. From supporting information contained in the reports, it is clear that most girls following technical and vocational education programmes are concentrated either in commercial or in home economics programmes. Enrolment in part-time technical and vocational education programmes is on the whole very low, with the exception of Thailand where technical and vocational education is almost exclusively part-time. Industrial and commercial education are the predominant fields of study in those countries reporting figures, with the exception of Sierra Leone where enrolment is fairly evenly spread among industrial, agricultural and commercial fields. Very few countries were able to supply figures indicating unemployment rates for the 15-22 age group in general as compared to that among graduates of technical and vocational education programmes. Most of the countries concerned, as noted in Chapter 6 on problems and innovations, do not have the facilities for accurate record-keeping and follow-up of those leaving the education system. Statistics on this point would, however, be a precious element in the evaluation of the effectiveness of technical and vocational education in preparing young people for employment. In three of the four countries supplying figures for unemployment among technical and vocational education graduates, technical and vocational education appears to have a definite advantage over general education in preparing young people for the world of work.

TABLE 5. Enrolment in technical and vocational education (TVE).

^1. A certain percentage not employed in field of specialization.

^2. Very approximate figure, arrived at taking enrolments in first and fourth years of general, vocational and technical secondary schools. Does not include enrolments in business and industrial programmes in secondary general schools.

^3. Secondary.

^4. Post-secondary.

^5. University.

^6. This figure includes those enrolled in primary teacher training programmes.

^7. This figure refers only to commercial education.

The organization of technical and vocational education as preparation for an occupational field and the means by which occupational qualifications are obtained in the individual countries are briefly outlined in the following paragraphs. These descriptions should be considered in conjunction with the educational structures provided in Figures 1-22.

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, craftsmen are prepared at present in specialized upper secondary schools, as are middle-level technicians. Both qualifications thus require twelve years of schooling. Students qualify as higher technicians after thirteen years of schooling, including a technician course and four months' practical experience in industry, beginning in the tenth year. There are facilities for post-secondary programmes in commercial and agricultural fields, in addition to four-year degree courses leading to qualification as a practical engineer.

Bangladesh

Craft certificates are obtained after ten years of schooling, the last two spent in vocational institutes. Commercial diplomas are awarded after two years of study in upper secondary commercial schools, or twelve years of schooling. Three years of study in a technical institute following ten years of basic education lead to a technician's diploma. Bangladesh reports that, although the technical education establishments attempt to consult with the various employment sectors, there is as yet little continuous and close co-ordination between education and employment.

Bolivia

In Bolivia, skilled workers are trained outside the regular education system in various public and private training institutions. Within the system there exists a four-year upper secondary programme, entrance to which requires eight years' basic schooling, which leads to qualification as a middle-level technician (bachillerato technico). Higher technicians are trained in a three-year post-secondary programme.

Burma

Provision is made within the technical and agricultural high schools to prepare skilled workers and middle-level technicians. Higher technicians are prepared in post-secondary technical institutions. Formal occupational qualifications are awarded according to performance on trade tests. Facilities for both levels of qualification exist on a part-time basis through evening classes. Government departments and industry accept students for on-the-job training under arrangements worked out with the educational institutions.

Chile

In Chile, qualifications at skilled-worker level and middle-technician level are obtained on completion of special programmes within secondary education. Facilities for post-secondary technical education exist. These are all full-time programmes, part-time programmes for special trade qualification being given in training centres outside the school system. Arrangements exist for practical training within industry following completion of the school programme. This practical period is required for qualification.

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, young people prepare for skilled-worker-level employment in vocational schools at lower secondary level. These programmes are of three years' duration following six years of general schooling. Middle-level technicians are prepared in three-year programmes given in upper secondary technical schools, and higher technicians prepared in post-secondary programmes of two or three years' duration.

Ethiopia

Skilled middle-level manpower, at both craftsmen and technician level, is prepared in second-level technical schools, and higher technicians in post-secondary technical colleges. Part-time and extension programmes in industrial and commercial studies are available in the institutions in city centres. The individual institutions keep contacts with employers. Although no concrete data are available, at present, graduates of technical and vocational programmes are in great demand.

India

Craftsmen at various levels are trained in industrial training institutes. Craftsman qualification may also be obtained in three-year programmes in technical high schools, entrance to which requires completion of eight years' basic education. Technicians' diplomas are awarded after three years' study in polytechnics or rural institutes, entrance to which requires completion of ten years' secondary schooling. Those in technical and vocational streams in upper secondary education (eleventh and twelfth years of schooling) may proceed to technical faculties in universities or, with appropriate experience in an industrial training institute, may enter the last year of the technician diploma course in the polytechnics.

Ivory Coast

In the Ivory Coast, programmes in the vocational technical schools which admit students beginning after the seventh year of schooling lead to various types and levels of skilled-worker and craftsman qualification. Some of these schools also offer lower-level technician programmes. First-level skilled workers are prepared in training centres where, after one year of introductory studies, trainees obtain professional qualification in a second year and are then placed in enterprises for a period of six months before final qualification. Technicians are prepared in the technical upper secondary schools. Those obtaining the baccalaureate may proceed to higher technical and engineering studies in order to qualify as higher technicians or engineers and technologists. Qualifications are awarded on the basis of performance in examinations. In recent years, national standards (upon which these examinations are based) adapted to the local situations have been adopted for some professional qualifications and others are under study.

Jordan

In 1974, the Jordanian Board of Education adopted five occupational standards as they relate to education:

1. Limited skill level, acquired by various types of on-the-job training with few or no educational requirements.

2. Skilled level, which is the standard produced in apprenticeship programmes and trade training centres, requiring nine years of compulsory schooling for entrance.

3. Craftsman level, the standard reached in secondary vocational school programmes of three years' duration requiring completed compulsory education for entrance.

4. Technician level, acquired in two-year post-secondary technical institutions and similar programmes, requiring completion of secondary education for entrance.

5. Professional or specialist level, acquired in university-degree programmes. Programmes in the educational system are full-time. Beginning in 1977, however, facilities will be made available in a post-secondary technical industrial institute to acquire a technician's diploma on a part-time basis.

Kenya

Kenya has recently completely revised its secondary technical curriculum. The secondary technical course is of four years' duration following seven years of primary education. During the first two years, students follow a common course. Beginning in the third year they must choose between an engineering and a construction option, but real trade specialization does not occur until the fourth year. At the end of the course students have several options open: craft training in their special field for craftsman certification; technician diploma programmes, either ordinary (two years) or higher (four years) at post-secondary level; or, if they succeed in the East African School Certificate Examination, university entrance. Those not taking the ordinary technician diploma examination, but who have successfully completed the two-year course, are awarded a technician's certificate. A number of training schemes at various levels exist outside the education system and plans are being made for further co-ordination among these and the education system.

Republic of Korea

In the Republic of Korea, some trade schools exist at lower secondary level (seventh to ninth years of schooling). It is the technical-vocational high schools, however, with three-year upper secondary programmes (tenth to twelfth years of schooling) which offer programmes up to craftsman level. Technicians are prepared in two-year junior college programmes, entrance to which requires completion of secondary education, usually in a comprehensive high school. Graduates of these programmes may enter university engineering faculties. Usually students enter engineering faculties after success in the college entrance examination. Part-time evening courses, while existing in only two vocational high schools, are far more common at post-secondary and university levels. Various modes of work study programmes are being experimented with. Normally, prospective graduates of technical and vocational programmes spend two to three months in industry, in field apprenticeships, during the last part of their programmes. Occupational qualifications are awarded on the basis of perfomance in the National Technical Qualifications Test for the level and field of specialization, ranging from assistant craftsman to professional engineer.

Liberia

The four-year programmes in the area vocational schools (ninth to twelfth years of schooling) are designed to prepare students for immediate employment after graduation. In addition, a number of trade training programmes exist outside the school system under other ministries or private agencies. There are plans to co-ordinate these more closely with the activities coming under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.

Malaysia

Upper secondary vocational schools offer two-year programmes after nine years of general schooling, which lead to the Malaysian Certificate of Vocational Education at craft level. This is in most cases a terminal programme. Students in the two-year technical streams, as well as students in the academic (humanities) or science streams, sit for the Malaysian School Leaving Certificate Examination. Those who do well may proceed to a pre-university course, others may continue their education up to diploma technician level in post-secondary polytechnical institutions. There are no part-time programmes within the educational system. Standards are maintained by the examinations conducted by the ministries of education and labour and by supervision. Employers and public agencies participate in technical and vocational education through membership of advisory boards, examination boards, curriculum panels and planning councils.

Nepal

Vocationally intensive programmes in the schools prepare skilled workers. Following ten years of schooling, certified or middle-level technicians are now prepared in two-year programmes, given in post-secondary technical institutes. Plans are under way to upgrade the engineering institute to diploma or higher technician level. Since the technical institutes have been incorporated into the university structure post-secondary technical education is attracting more able students. Other technical training programmes exist in centres outside the education system.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, skilled craftsmen are prepared in vocational schools in programmes of two to three years' duration after nine years of general education. Ordinary diploma-level technicians are prepared in two-year programmes in polytechnics and colleges of technology, entrance to which requires the secondary school certificate after eleven years of general schooling. Higher diploma level technicians are trained in the same institutions in four-year programmes. Entrance to this programme may be directly after eleven years of general schooling. Students may come into the last two years of the programme from two other directions: holders of the General Certificate of Education 'A' level (thirteen years of schooling) may be admitted, as may holders of the Ordinary Technician Diploma after one year's industrial experience. Most programmes are full time, although part-time enrolments are increasing in the towns.

Panama

Panama is in the process of reforming its education system and the organization of technical and vocational education. Programmes within the school system leading to skilled-worker qualification are of from two to three years' duration, depending on the field, after completion of eight years of general schooling (six years' primary and two years' lower secondary). Lower level technicians (peritos) are prepared in programmes lasting from two to three years after completion of lower secondary education (nine years of schooling). Middle-level technicians are prepared in upper secondary technical education. After three years of study they may obtain a diploma qualification (bachillerato). Panama is at present concentrating on expanding this element of its technical and vocational education which prepares the student either for employment or for higher studies.

Paraguay

In Paraguay, skilled workers are trained in vocational centres outside the education system. These centres take young people with from six to nine years of general education. At present, efforts in technical and vocational education are concentrated on developing and extending upper secondary programmes leading to a technical diploma (bachillerato), which either prepares middle-level technicians for immediate employment or gives access to higher education. Plans are also under way to develop post-secondary technician programmes in the technical institutes which now only offer up to middle-technician level.

Sierra Leone

Full or part-time craft courses sanctioned by the City and Guilds of London Institute examinations are available in trade centres to those having completed ten years of general schooling. There are two technician diploma levels: the ordinary level requiring two years of study after twelve years of schooling, and the Diploma in Engineering requiring three years' study after twelve years of schooling. There are also various government training schools, a few small training-within-industry programmes and apprenticeship programmes. So far, there is little co-ordination or collaboration between education and enterprises (including the government) which have their own training programmes.

Thailand

Most vocational schools and technical colleges offer full- and part-time programmes. Skilled workers are prepared in the secondary vocational-technical schools offering three-year programmes, entrance to which requires ten years of general schooling. Technicians are prepared in post-secondary technical colleges in three-year programmes (two years for graduates of the three-year secondary technical/vocational programmes). At technician level, qualifications are awarded by committees of the individual post-secondary institutions according to national standards.

Uganda

In Uganda, specialized technical and vocational education takes place at upper secondary level during the twelfth and thirteenth years of schooling. Lower secondary vocational schools exist which prepare semi-skilled manpower in three-year courses leading to a junior technical certificate and some graduates of these may enter craft training at upper secondary level. Normally, craft and advanced craft preparation takes place in technical institutes. The Technical College and the Commercial College offer both ordinary diploma-level courses (middle-level technician) and higher-level diploma courses (higher-level technician), the first being of two years' duration, the second comprising a further three years. Graduates of upper secondary general education may enter post-secondary higher diploma courses. The two post-secondary technical colleges offer both full-time and a variety of part-time courses. A number of the courses are sanctioned by the East African Examinations Council.

Upper Volta

In Upper Volta, skilled workers are prepared in four-year programmes requiring six years of primary education for entrance or in three-year courses outside the school system. Diploma-level technicians are prepared at upper secondary level in three-year programmes leading to one of two types of qualification as a middle-level technician after thirteen years of schooling. One award, the bacalaureate, leads to higher education, the second, a technician's diploma, leads directly to employment. Higher-level technicians are prepared in a post-secondary technical institution. Technical and vocational education within the school system is full-time and mostly concentrated in industrial and commercial fields, agricultural education being the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture. The employment rate among graduates of technical and vocational education is good, with the exception of the home economics programmes for girls.

Uruguay

In Uruguay, skilled-worker preparation usually takes place in centres which are outside the regular school system but which, nevertheless, are attached to the same administrative structure, the University of Work (Universidad del Trabajo). These centres offer courses of various lengths and at various levels for those leaving the schooling. Middle-level technicians are prepared in programmes of four years' duration, entrance to which require completion of nine years' general education. Higher technicians are prepared at post-secondary level in courses of from one to three years' duration, depending on the speciality. The Universidad del Trabajo also organizes vocational training courses for drop-outs from the school system.

Technical and vocational education as preparation for an occupational field

Facilities for technical and vocational education as continuing education exist in virtually all the countries, but generally on a rather limited scale. In some of the countries, this type of education is provided primarily by institutions within the formal education system; in others, in training centres outside the system. Several of the countries reported having both types of facilities. Two countries, India and Bangladesh, reported a third type of facility specifically for gaining an engineering qualification equal to a degree: examinations which are held by the national professional engineering bodies and which may be taken without having followed a regular course within the education system.

Continuing education within the formal education system is usually organized on a part-time basis, either through evening classes or some form of day release, in upper or post-secondary technical and vocational institutions. Burma, Chile, India, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Uganda and Uruguay reported having facilities for continuing education available within the education system. In 1977, Jordan plans to initiate a part-time programme in one of the technical institutes, and Liberia and Paraguay are planning to organize programmes of technical and vocational education for employed adults. Most of these programmes are at post-secondary level, and are of recent origin. The Universidad del Trabajo in Uruguay also organizes mobile courses which are set up in localities as needs arise since they do not justify the creation of a permanent institution. The Republic of Korea is planning to undertake a new initiative in this area by creating junior colleges and university centres atached to industrial centres. In these institutions, employed adults may achieve technical and academic qualifications on a par with those acquired in the regular post-secondary and university institutions.

Eleven countries reported having facilities for retraining and upgrading trade and technical qualifications in centres outside the education system. Such programmes are either organized in individual enterprises for their own training needs or in vocational training centres. Two countries, Kenya and Uganda, noted the work of the ministries of agriculture in organizing extension courses in rural areas.

The Ivory Coast is a case apart in that the country is in the process of developing a broad scheme of continuing education integrated into the system of technical education and vocational training which, it will be recalled, come under the authority of the same ministry. Indeed, technical and vocational education and training programmes, both in the schools and the training centres, are being designed with the expectation that later education and training for professional upgrading, updating and promotion will be an integral part of working life. As a mark of the importance attached to continuing education, a semi-autonomous agency has been created, the Institut National de Perfectionnement Professionnel (National Institute of Continuing Training), which is organically linked to the Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training (see Fig. 28). This institute, which is a sort of 'holding company' grouping several specialized centres, is directed by a board on which employers and unions are strongly represented. The administration of the institute is responsible for identifying the needs of enterprises and for co-ordinating the activities of the various specialized centres. Other institutions for further professional training exist which are sanctioned by the ministry. The various centres and specialized institutions cater for all levels of professional qualification from upgrading of skilled workers to higher management training.

Six countries, Ethiopia, the Republic of Korea, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Thailand, reported on incentives for continuing education. In all of these countries some forms of continuing technical and vocational education are recognized in terms of promotion and/or salary increases for employees having completed programmes. In Nepal, government employees may have paid leave if their programme of studies comes within the field of their professional work. Nigeria has recently created an Industrial Training Fund which awards reimbursement grants to employers who send their employees for training. Sierra Leone reports that in certain cases continuing education courses for some employees are mandatory.

The implementation of technical and vocational education

Policies, whether alone or combined with appropriate organizational structures and facilities, cannot of themselves assure that technical and vocational education is implemented in such a way as to reach goals. The achievement of goals for developing and expanding technical and vocational education will depend to a great degree on the quality of the three major elements of implementation: (a) the students recruited, depending in turn upon the quality of guidance; (b) the equipment methods and materials used in the teaching and learning process; (c) the teaching staff.

The twenty-three countries reporting indicated their deep concern with these elements of implementation which, because they are a function of the financial and human resources available, together represent, in most countries, the major problem areas in the development of technical and vocational education.

Guidance

Guidance services are on the whole little developed in most of the countries under study. Some of the countries reported that guidance is for the most part institutionally based. Others reported that comprehensive guidance services exist or that the structures were being created for co-ordinated guidance.

In those countries where guidance is institutionally based, two patterns emerged: guidance is either the responsibility of individual teachers or is organized by professional staff attached to individual institutions. Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burma, Ethiopia, Jordan and Nepal reported that guidance is primarily the responsibility of individual teachers. Costa Rica noted that guidance encouraging young people to follow upper secondary programmes of technical and vocational education is offered primarily through industrial arts courses at lower secondary level. Nigeria reported that although little organized guidance has been offered in the past, there are now greater efforts to place guidance and counselling officers in a number of the secondary schools, particularly the comprehensive schools. Where no guidance officers are available the teaching staff is used and often those teachers responsible for guidance have lighter teaching loads.

The Republic of Korea reported that comprehensive guidance services exist on an institutional basis. In the Republic of Korea, guidance is the responsibility of student guidance centres, counselling offices and student affairs sections of schools and colleges. Within these services, evaluation and follow-up activities are carried out to obtain data which will allow for adjustment of education to meet individual needs more realistically.

In Thailand, guidance, although in the early stages of development, is institutionally based. Most educational institutions have at least one part-time guidance officer. Many technical and vocational institutions emphasize placement services rather than educational or vocational guidance strictly speaking. Often job placement of a student is made in the enterprise in which he passes the period of practical training during the final year of study. The difficulties in follow-up of former students were noted as a result of negligible responses to questionnaires sent out by the individual educational establishments.

Several countries reported that guidance services on national level exist or are planned. In Chile, guidance and supervision for technical and vocational education is co-ordinated within the Ministry of Education. Guidance is provided in the schools by teachers in special hours set aside for this purpose. Every effort is made to co-ordinate the educational guidance given to students in technical and vocational institutions with that offered in lower secondary education and in academic schools, as well as to provide vocational counselling. In India, the Central Bureau of Education and Vocational Guidance gives technical advice and helps guidance movements in the field of secondary education on national level. Several states have set up guidance bureaux. Guidance literature, occupational information materials and psychological tests are being developed by extramural departments of universities and university guidance bureaux. Guidance is also provided by the employment, information and guidance bureaux of the National Employment Service, student advisory bureaux and training and placement departments of a number of universities and other educational institutions. In the Ivory Coast, responsibility for educational and vocational guidance is placed in a special department under the Directorate of General Training, the Directorate for Guidance, Selection, Information and Documentation. Although guidance, evaluation and follow-up activities are the responsibility of the schools in Malaysia, there are guidance associations on national level. In Panama, guidance is directed by the National Educational Guidance Service. In the technical and vocational schools, guidance includes providing continuously updated information on employment opportunities to students as well as information on the education and training required for qualification, and possibilities for later education and training. In Sierra Leone, efforts to develop guidance have been undertaken recently. Thirty-three per cent of secondary technical and vocational institutions now offer guidance, which is still for the most part given by experienced teachers rather than professional staff. The Ministry of Education has taken initial steps to create a national guidance service in the form of a unit headed by a qualified guidance counsellor who is now working out the organizational details. In 1974, Uganda established a career guidance section within the Ministry of Education. The officer in charge travels to talk to groups and meet with school guidance personnel. To date, there are thirty-five publications available on careers for which technical and vocational education is required. A national guidance service was organized in Upper Volta in 1970 which gathers and distributes information, and deals with questions of selection within the education system, as well as with psycho-pedagogical research. Vocational guidance at the moment remains the responsibility of committees within each individual educational institution. Uruguay has organized a national guidance service within the administrative framework of the Universidad del Trabajo.

Equipment, methods and materials

In dealing with questions of methods and materials used in the teaching and learning processes, the reports tended to concentrate on indications of the relative importance of practical work in technical and vocational education and methods of students assessment and evaluation. One country, the Ivory Coast, noted a determined effort to use new teaching methods designed to engage the learner as a participant in the learning process rather than an observer. In most of the reports, questions concerning the machinery and equipment for technical and vocational education were discussed under several headings, as lack of appropriate equipment is a common problem for all. This question may therefore be more appropriately dealt with in the next chapter which contains an analysis of common problems. Several countries, however, did mention in their discussion of the methods and materials used in technical and vocational education that efforts are being made to develop and produce locally appropriate materials and equipment.

In general, the reports indicated that evaluation of student performance is based on traditional testing methods or examinations. Progress to a higher level of education often requires successful performance in a nationwide examination, as may be seen from the earlier discussion of methods of articulation within the structures of the educational system. Testing and examination are obviously an important element in the evaluation process. A growing awareness, however, of the value of continuous assessment and evaluation, not only of student performance but also of the quality of technical and vocational education as a whole, is evident from several of the reports. India particularly mentioned that a system in which continuous internal assessment and evaluation in tandem with the development of new curricula requiring such evaluation is now being developed. Panama noted that although evaluation schemes are still in their infancy, the country was engaged in an effort to develop a general evaluation system through surveys of students, parents, teachers and the organization of teaching workshops.

All of the country reports mentioned the importance attached to the practical component of technical and vocational education, despite the problems of inadequate equipment, lack of teachers, lack of facilities for organizing practical periods for students in enterprises. Four countries, Burma, India, Jordan and Thailand, noted that a period of practical training in industry was a required element in programmes of technical and vocational education.

Ethiopia, India, the Ivory Coast, Nepal, Nigeria and Upper Volta reported on their efforts to develop and produce suitable teaching materials locally, together with equipment for technical and vocational education. In India, this task is the responsibility of the curriculum development centres whose activities include revision and formulation of curricula of technician courses based on job analysis, the design and preparation of instructional materials, the design and manufacture of laboratory equipment and teaching aids from locally available material, and the familiarization of teachers with pre-prepared instructional materials. Under an Educational Technology Project, exploration of resources of educational technology and the development of multi-media packages are being undertaken. In the Ivory Coast, a special unit for the design and production of teaching materials has been created within the national technical teacher training institution. In Nepal, the schools are expected to identify and use local resources, including material and personnel, in the practical component of their programmes. Nigeria reported that the uses of educational technology in the teaching process is now an element of the technical teacher training curriculum and, further, that the Science Equipment Centre is responsible for the maintenance and repair of school science equipment, as well as for the production of suitable teaching material for science and technology programmes. In Upper Volta, teachers are encouraged to devise and make appropriate teaching materials.

Teaching staff

Few of the countries reporting can permit themselves the luxury of having hard and fast rules as regards the qualifications necessary to teach technical and vocational education. Indeed, the twenty-three reports indicated that the recruitment of qualified teachers and the development of facilities allowing them to acquire these qualifications is the single largest hindrance to the full implementation of technical and vocational education policy.

Virtually all of the countries are in the process of developing programmes to train technical and vocational teachers. All of these require a completed secondary education for entrance. In general, two types of programmes are being developed; programmes which offer an integrated course of theoretical studies and practical experience in the special technical field in addition to pedagogical studies, and programmes of pedagogical studies directed to those future teachers already possessing the necessary technical qualifications and work experience.

The following brief descriptions indicate the forms of technical teacher training already existing or being developed in the twenty-three countries reporting.

Afghanistan

The country is engaged in an effort to upgrade the quality of the teaching staff as a whole through the development of both pre-service and in-service programmes and to prepare for the reform of secondary education which will require considerably increased numbers of technical and vocational teachers. The new teacher training programme will be of four years' duration requiring twelve years of schooling for entrance. It is expected that the new vocational comprehensive schools will supply candidates for the teacher training programmes.

Bangladesh

Teaching staff is recruited by the Public Service Commission which also recruits for other government organizations. Teachers of vocational technical subjects in vocational schools are required to hold a diploma or certificate in a technical or vocational field and preferably to have had appropriate work experience. Until now there have been no professional teacher training facilities for these teachers, but a teacher training institute is being established for the purpose. The teachers of technical subjects at the technical institutes must either hold a degree in engineering (in which case there is no provision for pedagogical training) or must hold a diploma in engineering technology (acquired after completing the programme at technical institutes) and must follow a one-year course at the Technical Teachers' Training College leading to a diploma in technical education. In both cases, some practical experience is preferable.

Bolivia

Almost all teachers of technical and vocational subjects are trained in two- to three-year courses in the Technical Teachers' Training College (Escuela Normal Superior T閏nica).

Burma

The qualifications of teachers vary according to the type of institution for which they are recruited. Teachers in post-secondary technical institutions are required to have passed the programme of such an institution, to have five years' industrial or relevant work experience, and to have passed a short in-service teacher training course. Teachers in technical high schools must either hold a technical high school diploma, have five years' working experience, and a short period of in-service teacher training, or, alternatively, must have passed a technical test, have three years' practical experience and have undergone a one-year teacher training course. For teaching in the vocational schools, prospective teachers must have passed a trade test, worked as skilled workers, and have successfully completed a short in-service teacher training course. Teachers in the vocational schools may also be hired with five years' practical experience, the educational qualifications demanded being left to the discretion of the hiring institution.

Chile

For full appointment, teachers are required to hold academic qualifications as teachers, engineers or technicians. Temporary appointment may be made of persons (a) having completed university studies in the field to be taught but not holding a degree; (b) having achieved university qualifications in related fields; (c) holding professional qualifications recognized by the Ministry of Education in the teaching field; or (d) having graduated in technical and vocational education programmes. If the need arises, staff may be hired on a temporary basis at the discretion of the director of a particular educational establishment.

Costa Rica

Teachers are recruited and appointed by the General Civil Service Direction on the basis of performance in competitive examinations. When appropriately qualified candidates are unavailable, the Ministry of Education may make temporary appointments. Teachers are prepared at the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, the National University, and facilities will soon be available in the Research Centre for Technical Education Teachers.

Ethiopia

Teachers for technical and vocational education are recruited from five sources: graduates of two-year programmes provided by the technical teacher education department in the faculty of education at the university, graduates of two-year post-secondary programmes in the polytechnic institutes, graduates of the commercial schools and the technical schools, and finally, graduates returning from study abroad.

India

Qualifications for technical and vocational education teachers are prescribed by the All-India Council of Technical and Vocational Education. A postgraduate degree in engineering is required for teaching in the university-level engineering colleges. A first degree or a diploma in engineering is required for teaching in the post-secondary polytechnics. Recruitment is carried out through selection committees and departmental promotions. Four regional technical teacher training institutes have been created to offer formal teacher training for teachers in the polytechnics. Instructors in the industrial training institutes and in the apprenticeship training establishments are prepared in central training institutes. A central staff training and research institute has been created to promote research in technical and vocational education and for staff development purposes.

Ivory Coast

The Ivory Coast is in the process of creating a national technical teacher training institution, the Institut P閐agogique National de l'Enseignement Technique et Professionnel (IPNETP). This institution is designed to fulfil three functions: to assure the pedagogical preparation of intending teachers and to provide facilities for staff development; to assure the practical training and provide on-the-job experience for future teachers in technical education and vocational training programmes; to design, produce and distribute teaching aids and materials. Three separate services have been created to perform each of the functions. The practical training unit will have close ties to industry and is designed to eventually become an industrial production unit. The audio-visual production unit is also conceived as a pedagogical research centre. Teachers and training staff of all levels will be trained at IPNETP, recruited from among holders of the various technical diplomas possessing work experience and from among graduates of the National Institute of Higher Technical Education.

Jordan

The minimum qualifications for teaching technical and vocational education in industrial fields at secondary level (trade training centres, apprenticeship schemes, secondary industrial schools and vocational education in general education) are technician level achievement as a graduate of a post-secondary technical institution with some work experience. A university degree with some work experience is the minimum requirement for teaching in post-secondary institutions, and secondary agricultural and commercial schools. It is sometimes difficult to adhere to these minimum requirements, particularly in industrial fields. The Ministry of Education undertakes training of newly appointed staff during the summer holidays.

Kenya

In the years since 1969, Kenya has instituted programmes in three institutions to train three types of teacher for technical and vocational education. Teachers of industrial education in the general secondary schools are trained in a three-year programme at the Kenya Science Teachers College and are prepared to teach both science and industrial subjects. Business education teachers are prepared in either two-year diploma courses or three-year degree courses at Kenyatta University. Technical teachers are prepared in programmes in the Kenya Polytechnic. Two types of courses, both leading to a diploma in technical teaching, have been developed to cater to the training needs of two categories of recruits: the 'long' course of four years' duration includes academic and technical studies, industrial skill training and work experience, and pedagogical studies, and is directed to future teachers recruited after completion of eleven years of schooling. This programme leads both to technical and pedagogical qualifications. A short one-year programme of pedagogical studies is offered to qualified technicians recruited from industry. A further programme leading to a higher teaching diploma is being developed for recruits from among practising secondary technical teachers and from industry. Some of the graduates of this programme will be teaching in the polytechnics in the future. Kenya has now embarked on a project to bring together all these teacher training programmes into one institution, the Kenya Technical Teachers College, now under construction. College staff is in training and some staff members are seconded to the programmes in the three above-mentioned institutions.

Republic of Korea

A doctoral or master's level degree is required for teaching in four-year university level institutions. A bachelor's level degree is required for secondary school teaching. Junior vocational colleges offer their graduates an auxiliary teaching certificate in secondary school technical crafts subjects. The staff of the junior colleges or post-secondary institutions have qualifications ranging from the bachelor's degree to the doctorate.

Liberia

At present there are no well-defined criteria for the recruitment, training and employment of vocational teachers, in great part because of the lack of technical teacher training facilities within higher education. Most vocational teachers are recruited from industry with little or no pedagogical training. It is expected that in the future the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education will determine criteria.

Malaysia

Future teachers are recruited after eleven years of schooling and trained in a two-year programme. Trade, agriculture-education and home-science teachers are trained in separate institutions designed specifically for preparing teachers in each of these fields. In-service courses are provided for technical teachers and they are sent to work for periods in industry in order to update their technical knowledge.

Nepal

Teachers of vocational subjects at secondary level are recruited from among diploma-holders in vocational fields trained in two-year programmes in the Institute of Education and the Institute of Agriculture. Teachers are also recruited from among persons trained abroad. Lecturers in the post-secondary institutes are mostly government employees, the majority of whom have trained abroad, who have remained after the transfer of responsibility for the post-secondary technical institutes from the government to the university. New lecturers at post-secondary level are recruited by the University Service Commission.

Nigeria

Technical teachers are trained at the National Technical Teachers College. Students are recruited from among secondary school certificate-holders and are prepared in an integrated programme of technical studies, practical experience and pedagogical studies. Those not holding the school certificate but with vocational qualification may be considered for the teacher training programme, but they are required to complete a year of preliminary study before entry to the programme. Existing technical and vocational teaching staff are sent to industry for updating their technical knowledge and experience during the long vacations.

Panama

Panama reported that there are as yet no formal teacher training provisions for technical and vocational teachers.

Paraguay

Technical teacher training will in the future be organized in the Higher Institute of Education (Instituto Superior de Educaci) but at present there are few provisions for such preparation. Some teachers have been specially trained with international assistance.

Sierra Leone

Teachers of technical and vocational subjects are prepared in two types of programmes, one a diploma programme of three years' duration in the teacher training college, the second, a three- or four-year degree course in business or engineering followed by a year's post-graduate pedagogical study. The first programme leads to a Higher Teacher's Certificate; the qualification required for teaching in the first three years of secondary education. The second leads to a B.Sc. in engineering or economics or business studies, plus either a diploma in education or a post-graduate certificate in education, qualifying the person to teach at upper secondary level. Entrance to the teachers' college requires completion of twelve years of schooling and a certain standard of performance in the 'O'-level examinations. The degree programme requires completion of the university preparation course in the twelfth or thirteenth years of schooling, plus a certain standard of performance in the 'A'-level examinations. Qualified technicians who hold professional teaching qualifications are also recruited for the secondary schools. Instructors in the trade courses are recruited from among those qualified as junior technicians in two-year training courses following successful completion of craft or advanced craft courses, with a professional teaching qualification (certificate of training as an instructor or the technical teacher's certification) in addition to two years' industrial experience. The post-secondary technical institute is staffed by teachers having three or four years' training in a polytechnic or technical college and a year's technical teacher training or by engineering degree-holders, also having a diploma in education or its equivalent. Staff for the technical institutes (business studies) must have equivalent qualifications.

Thailand

Technical and vocational education teachers must hold at least a post-secondary diploma in their teaching field and perform successfully in placement tests.

Uganda

Teachers for the technical schools and institutes are recruited from industry and trained in a one-year course in the Department of Technical Education, Uganda Technical College. Candidates for the course must hold either an advanced craft certificate or an ordinary technician diploma. Teachers at post-secondary or university level are recruited by the institution concerned and prepared under staff development programmes.

Upper Volta

Teachers of technical and vocational education at the lower secondary level are required to hold a technical teaching certificate (certificat d'aptitude ?l'enseignement technique 1^er degr?/I>) and at the upper secondary level to hold a higher technical teaching certificate (certificat d'aptitude a l'enseignement technique 2^e degr?/I>). Both these qualifications are obtained through specialized programmes offered at the technical teacher training college (Ecole Normale d'Enseignement Technique) and, for entrance to the programmes, one of several possible secondary technical diplomas are required. The teacher training programmes are of two years' duration, the first year devoted to technical studies, the second to theoretical and practical pedagogical studies.

Uruguay

In the past, technical and vocational teachers have been recruited from employed professionals or from those with some university background. Now, however, two centres for training instructors for the Universidad del Trabajo are being created under its aegis, one for technical teachers, the other for agricultural education teachers.

Development problems and trends in innovation



The reports clearly indicate that many of the problems inherent in the development of technical and vocational education exist in common, despite the great variations among the individual countries. Furthermore, although the solutions now being worked out are geared particularly to the prevailing situation in each, certain common trends in innovation may be distinguished.

The problems fall into two major categories: those of a general nature involving impediments at national level to educational and economic development as a whole; and those which arise as more specific hindrances within technical and vocational education itself. As emphasized in earlier chapters, all the countries concerned have taken policy measures within recent years to alleviate both the general problems of adapting education to development and the more specific ones of expanding and improving technical and vocational education as a necessary condition for this adaptation and for the democratization of education. These measures, however, have had as yet little discernible effect. Significant inequalities remain between general education and technical and vocational education in terms of status, funds respectively devoted to these areas, and the proportion of the population served. Significant inequalities also remain in terms of the opportunities available in rural ones. Traditional systems of education, reinforced by traditional attitudes towards the role and function of education, considerably hinder the process of reform. The examination and selection process within the educational system, the ends to which it is thought education should properly lead, the consequent over-emphasis on academic areas of study are but several of the factors involved in the latter problem. The continued maldjustment between education and employment, which plagues many countries, both developed and developing, is a third continuing theme which is most closely interrelated with the state of technical and vocational education. It is a question not only of traditional education systems which turn out graduates unprepared for the realities of the working world, it is also a question of the maladjustment of current technical and vocational education to real development needs. The structures are not yet in place to allow for the necessary close co-ordination of educational, development and manpower planning. Nor are the structures in place through which educational authorities and institutions and employing agencies may co-ordinate planning and movement between education and training, on the one hand, and education and employment, on the other. There is also little provision for the research which is the necessary prelude to the creation of such structures and the implementation of policy, as well as essential for ensuring continuous development.

With regard to specific problems within technical and vocational education, there are several which appear to be common to a number of countries. The lack of financial resources, which forms the major barrier to expansion of facilities, often heads the list of problems in this category. The fact that general technical and vocational subjects are not always an integral part of the general education curriculum and that guidance services are inadequate affects both the number and quality of students recruited at all levels into technical and vocational education programmes to prepare for an occupational field. Problems concerning the recruitment and training of teachers remain a major hindrance to the expansion and improvement of technical and vocational education. Inadequate teaching materials and equipment, as well as lack of facilities to provide working experience during the course of study form a further set of frequently mentioned problems. In many cases, the curricula used in technical and vocational education programmes are outdated or not properly adapted to indigenous educational needs. The problem of inadequate curricula is often linked to the lack of research facilities and information and documentation services for technical and vocational education, as well as to lack of comprehensive evaluation procedures for quality control.

In a sense, nearly all the country reports are a record of innovation, both broad and narrow. In virtually all the countries, technical and vocational education was very little developed until the late 1960s. Thus, the situation as described in the reports is of very recent origin, and on the whole may be described as one in process of transformation. In general, broad innovation has entailed steps towards integrating technical and vocational education more fully into the total system of education along the lines suggested in the Revised Recommendation. Narrower innovations designed to solve specific problems arising in the development of technical and vocational education revolve for the most part around measures to expand and improve teacher training facilities, to increase and expand facilities for technical and vocational education, to develop local production of materials and equipment and to improve the practical training offered in technical and vocational programmes while at the same time strengthening ties with industry.

General problems and trends

Traditional educational systems combined with attitudes on the part of educators and the public which relegate technical and vocational education and the occupations for which it prepares to a low status form perhaps the greatest barrier to the development of technical and vocational education as an integral part of a system of lifelong education relating education and life. Many countries have found that although reforms have been introduced within the education system to render it more flexible, parents and their children prefer courses of study of an academic nature which may lead to the higher status professions. Since only relatively few are qualified or have the means to pursue the higher studies required for these professions, those young people completing secondary education and not going on to higher education often find themselves at a dead end, with high expectations and in competition for a few jobs in overcrowded fields. Where post-secondary technical education is little developed, the same situation often exists with respect to university graduates. In this situation, technical and vocational education, which prepares the qualified manpower necessary for development, becomes a second-class education for the less able students rather than a positive alternative for the majority of young people. As a result, technical and vocational education up to the present has catered to the needs of only a minority of young people enrolled in the education system, as the figures in Table 5 indicate. Educational authorities are thus faced with the necessity of developing strategies for channelling young people, in greater numbers and having greater ability, into technical and vocational education, without which educational reforms will remain a dead letter. This entire problem is compounded in some countries by the fact that their educational systems were grafted on from the exterior and so are doubly out of phase with the real needs of the country.

Probably the single most important trend in innovation which arises from a comparison of the experiences of the twenty-three countries as presented in the reports is the emphasis now placed on the integration of introductory technical and vocational studies in general secondary education, and in some instances beginning at primary level. This measure is designed to change traditional educational systems and the attitudes supporting their continuation to the detriment of development and thus has implications far beyond simple curriculum revision. It is, in fact, for the long term, a major step towards fully integrating technical and vocational education and general education and relating education more closely to the concerns of life as a whole. It is the central chapter in the overall educational reforms now being undertaken, as may be seen from the discussion of the technical and vocational aspects of general education in Chapter 4. The quasi-totality of the countries reporting have taken measures recently or are planning to do so in the near future to institute introductory technical and vocational studies in some form in the curriculum of lower secondary education, often as a required element. In several countries such studies may be continued at the student’s option at upper secondary level. In some of the countries, the emphasis is on becoming acquainted with productive work, not as preparation for a particular occupation but as a means of developing positive attitudes towards the choice of occupation and towards the world of work. These studies have also been introduced with a guidance function in mind: where guidance services are little developed as is the case in most of these countries, it is hoped that the introductory technical studies will dim the attraction of traditional curricula at upper secondary level and that more students will undertake technical and vocational studies at this and higher levels.

The insertion of technical and vocational aspects into general education programmes is closely linked to two other trends which may be distinguished. In some of the countries there are plans under way to gradually vocationalize upper secondary education. Not only will technical and vocational schools at upper secondary level be extended but, most important given the existing situation, students in secondary general education institutions will be encouraged, and in some cases required, to take practical courses with the emphasis on technical fields, through which they acquire skills rendering them more employable on completion of secondary education. The development of comprehensive secondary institutions is the major means of bringing about this change. The second trend is the effort being made to develop post-secondary technical education to prepare urgently needed higher technicians. This form of higher education serves to break down traditional educational categories by offering an alternative to university studies for those graduating from secondary general programmes who have had the opportunity to acquire some technical background at school. Post-secondary technical education also offers opportunities (which did not previously exist) for higher education to those completing secondary technical and vocational education. In the countries concerned in this study, these alternative routes through the educational system which create greater flexibility, though only in the planning or experimental stage, are designed in the long run to modify the role and function of education so that it makes a better contribution to the development of particular societies and to the well-being of those living in them.

The problem of the maladjustment between education and employment is closely linked to that of rigidity of structure in, and of attitudes concerning, the educational system. Similarly, innovations designed to change attitudes have implications for the reform of structures. The traditional educational systems, which in many developing countries cater only to a very small minority, are no longer able to serve even these few in terms of preparing them for the occupations needed for the development of their countries. No longer relevant to this minority, education unreformed will certainly not have the capacity to prepare the future majority of young for the occupational realities they will face as adults.

An number of factors contribute to this major problem. The primary factor is formed by the set of attitudes which considers that education at the end of secondary level and beyond should necessarily lead to an office job with high professional status. The content of education is then determined by the ends to which it is felt it should lead: a university education in the traditional sense and a white-collar job. The employment markets of the countries under study cannot absorb what the educational system is actually producing. Disappointed expectations, and often migration of potentially valuable manpower, result. Thus, strategies must be developed to change attitudes concerning the appropriate goals of education but perhaps, as a prior condition, to change attitudes towards what kind of work is of the most value to both society and the individual.

A second factor contributing to the problem of maladjustment between education and employment cited by many of the countries is formed by the lack of facilities for projecting future manpower requirements, particularly in the areas of future economic development. Where institutions responsible for manpower planning and monitoring the employment situation exist, these are rarely in close contact with those responsible for educational planning. Looking more specifically at technical and vocational education, several countries reported that programmes were not adequately preparing young people for employment in their occupational fields or were not preparing them in the fields of real employment opportunity. These countries are then faced with the need to develop strategies for adjusting education as a whole, and technical and vocational education in particular, not only to the realities of the current or short-term labour market but also projected economic development.

Although every country cited negative attitudes to technical and vocational education and to the occupations to which it leads as a major brake on development in this area, all were aware that this was a problem which will only be solved in the long term by creating new sets of values through education, in the broadest sense, of the population as a whole. These countries have great hopes that in the long term the educational reforms designed to erase distinctions between general and technical and vocational education, and therefore to contribute to changing the relative value placed on the desirability of various occupations, will do a great deal to alleviate this problem. In this respect, projects undertaken in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone may be cited which represent an attempt to involve major sectors of the community in educational reform. Ethiopia has begun a National Campaign for Development through Co-operation. Data is being collected by secondary and university students and teachers throughout the country to help identify priority areas for innovation and experiment. Sierra Leone is undertaking an educational review with wide terms of reference throughout the country, involving public servants, social workers, trade unions and parents, to determine long-term learning needs and ways of meeting these through formal, informal and non-formal education, to survey the existing system, to outline a national educational strategy and to estimate the financial and organizational implications of any recommendations for development. Certainly close involvement of the community in devising answers to development problems is an effective way to ensure that reforms are accepted and that appropriate goals are agreed to - in short, that attitudes are changed.

As a whole, the educational reforms and innovations described in this study are undoubtedly designed to do away with the maladjustment between education and employment in the interests of development, and the expansion of technical and vocational education has a crucial role to play in solving this problem.

With regard to linking educational planning to employment and possible developments in the labour market, however, a number of problems remain. The situation projected and existing has been described in Chapter 3. In this respect, the approach taken in the Ivory Coast should be noted: the central thrust of the structural reform of technical and vocational education within the context of overall educational reform is towards linking as closely as possible manpower planning and employment to formal technical and vocational education and to training outside the system. This applies not only to initial occupational preparation but also to continuing education for those employed in all sectors and at all levels of occupational qualifications. In most cases, however, this co-ordination is in the very early stages. The first steps towards innovation are usually made in the direction of creating governmental structures to take on this responsibility. Often, however, the responsible bodies are unable to carry out their task because of the lack of facilities and procedures for gathering the necessary quantitative and qualitative information concerning actual and probable developments in terms of manpower requirements and of evaluating the effectiveness of education in meeting these.

Particular problems and trends

It was further evident from the reports that not only is education as a whole out of phase with the requirements of economic development and of the labour market, but that technical and vocational education as now designed frequently marches to a different, often outdated, and occasionally irrelevant tune. Certainly this is not the type of technical and vocational education the countries wish to expand and to insert into overall educational reform. Among the factors cited in connection with this problem was a lack of means for co-ordination between technical and vocational education and enterprises either for practical training, curriculum development, or eventual placement of graduates in employment. In this situation, graduates are not receiving adequate preparation for taking up their occupations. Programmes are also often designed on far too theoretical a basis and in some cases deal with technologies which are not adapted to the social and economic needs and hence to the real employment situation prevailing in the country. Furthermore, six countries (Bangladesh, Chile, India, Paraguay, Sierra Leone and Thailand) cited as a factor in the problem of inadaptation of technical and vocational education to real needs the fact that technical and vocational education programmes do not provide graduates with the attitudes or motivation which would allow them to become self-employed if they so choose, and eventually to contribute to the further creation of jobs. India has attacked this problem by establishing entrepreneurship training programmes for the technically qualified which would enable them to initiate productive activities with financial backing from the banks and the government.

Limited financial resources form an obvious and major block to the reform of education as a whole and particularly to the expansion of technical and vocational education within this reform. A number of the countries concerned are not yet able to provide free compulsory basic education, the fundamental educational priority. If proposed reforms involving the expansion of technical and vocational education and its incorporation throughout the education systems are to be achieved, the allocation of the remaining available resources must be made according to the priorities established by the adoption of these reforms. Further, these resources must be used as efficiently as possible. It is evident that such reallocation cannot be carried out overnight, particularly when, as at present, funds devoted to technical and vocational education in many countries represent a very modest, and in some cases wholly negligible, proportion of the education budget (see Tables 1-3). Such reallocation would also represent a major decision as to educational priorities. Many of the countries are obtaining external assistance for capital investment for technical and vocational education plant and equipment but, overall, the prospect is rather bleak as regards obtaining the funds for recurrent expenses necessary for the expansion of technical and vocational education. The prospect is likely to remain bleak unless major decisions are taken with a view to preparing the qualified manpower necessary for economic development, that is, unless existing resources are eventually distributed differently so as to increase future resources.

Taking a realistic view, the countries are at present most concerned with discovering means of using available resources more efficiently. Some of the innovations undertaken in more rational design and use of facilities and equipment, and local production of equipment and teaching materials are described below. Two countries, Burma and Kenya, have initiated schemes involving the community as a whole in increasing the funds available for technical and vocational education. In Burma, schools have been established which are partially financed by local communities and parent-teacher associations. This has particularly benefited rural areas where as a consequence more schools have been opened. In Kenya, the Harambee or self-help movement has been extended to technical education and three institutes of technology have been created by local communities. These are financed by voluntary funds collected from the public and are supported by voluntary organizations. Four more institutes are expected to open in the next year or two.

At every level within technical and vocational education itself, two major problems are common to virtually all the countries under study: inadequate teaching staff and lack of appropriate facilities for the practical training component of teacher preparation programmes. With regard to the recruitment of teaching staff, the major problem is to attract technically and pedagogically qualified people. In most of the countries, the technically qualified are few in number to begin with and are much sought after by business and industry where salaries are such that the education system can rarely compete for the services of these people. Not only is there a problem of number but also a problem of quality. Teachers who are technically qualified often have no pedagogical training. On the other hand, when teachers are recruited from those trained in university engineering or science programmes, these often have no real work experience and thus tend to emphasize theory to the detriment of practice. Some countries have in the past, when technical and vocational education programmes were very few in number, relied heavily on foreign personnel - a highly unsatisfactory solution because of the discontinuity in policy which results from the inevitably rapid turnover of such personnel and, above all, because such personnel, however dedicated and qualified, cannot ensure autonomous development.

A number of the countries are attempting to solve recruitment problems by developing integrated post-secondary technical teacher training programmes which take students directly after completion of secondary technical studies. These programmes include technical and pedagogical studies and attempts are made to provide for some practical work experience. Such programmes are usually organized in technical teacher training institutions or in post-secondary technical institutions which offer a final year of teacher preparation after technician qualification is achieved. Some of the countries, as may be seen in the summaries of teacher training provision in Chapter 5, are creating technical teacher training institutions which offer several types of programmes to prepare different categories of technical and vocational teachers. These programmes vary in length and content according to the qualifications students have at entrance - for example, secondary technical or vocational education, secondary general education with some technical subjects, technical qualifications and work experience, etc. Often these institutions also provide in-service courses for updating and upgrading practising teachers. The development and expansion of such institutions or centres offering a variety of courses seems to be a very promising approach to problems of technical teacher recruitment and training, and is a major distinguishable trend among the countries reporting.

The second frequently cited problem in implementing adequate technical and vocational education programmes is that of providing the proper facilities for practical training. The problem is dual: technical and vocational institutions are ill-equipped and, further, provision for actual work experience in enterprises is lacking. Equipment for the industrial fields of technical and vocational education is very expensive, both in terms of initial investment and in terms of maintenance. Many countries also have to import this equipment, which is doubly costly and difficult to maintain because of difficulties in obtaining spare parts. Furthermore, imported equipment is often not really adapted to the learning requirements of the students.

Some countries have taken steps towards developing local school equipment industries for technical and vocational education. Burma plans to establish a production centre and a technical upper secondary school to produce simple machines and equipment for the technical high schools and the vocational schools. Bangladesh has created an educational equipment bureau to design, test and manufacture equipment for vocational institutions in collaboration with local industry. In Chile, one school is being equipped to produce educational equipment. Ethiopia has created an educational materials production centre for the local production of equipment. This type of solution has numerous advantages. First, equipment may be produced more cheaply and is better adapted to local needs. Secondly, the production of equipment provides students and teacher with worthwhile practical experience of the total production process. Such approaches towards producing equipment locally are worth much further exploration and development and could be introduced into either technical institutions or teacher training institutions. A second approach reported by some countries consists of making every effort to ensure that existing equipment is used to its maximum potential. Bangladesh reports such an effort: the workshops of most technical institutions work in two shifts, students in technical fields using them in the morning, those in vocational fields in the afternoons. Bolivia reports that technical school workshops are also used for training programmes under the direction of the Ministry of Labour and for programmes organized by the Bolivian Apprenticeship Institute. This again is a useful approach to the possibilities which should be further explored - for example, through the creation of multi-purpose centralized workshops serving a number of institutions or mobile workshops. In this way valuable equipment would not remain idle.

Several countries reported innovative action designed to provide practical work experience for students in technical and vocational education programmes. Burma reported that all institutions under the Department of Technical and Vocational Education accept job orders from the government and the public, thereby rendering school workshops productive. Ethiopia is in the process of creating production units in which students may acquire the necessary experience. The Republic of Korea is engaged in the expansion of the co-operative work-education system at the college level, and Nigeria, as noted earlier, has created an industrial training fund to finance practical training experience. The central problem of continuous close co-ordination between education and enterprises in terms of planning, curriculum development, co-operative arrangements for training and placement remains for the most part unsolved.

The development and evaluation of curricula in technical and vocational education requires the organization, staff, information and expertise which some countries cite as lacking. Three countries noted recent innovative action in this area on national level. In Burma, the Department of Technical and Vocational Education is currently undertaking a general evaluation of the curricula offered in technical and agricultural institutions. In Bangladesh, a subcommittee of the National Curriculum Committee has been created to deal with problems of curriculum development in technical and vocational education. Ethiopia, in line with its policy of involving the community closely in educational reform, noted local initiatives in curriculum development for the work education now being introduced in all schools. It is evident from the reports as a whole that curriculum development and evaluation now require much more attention if the proposed wide-ranging educational reforms are to be carried out and technical and vocational education brought into line with the real needs and aspirations of each individual country.

Curriculum development and evaluation cannot be isolated from identification of needs, research into how these may be met, experimentation with solutions and evaluation of these experiments. This domain of educational activity requires a network of strong research and information services linking the national and local levels which many of the countries noted as lacking. In virtually all the countries, the basic structures exist through which such services might be created or expanded: bodies within the national educational administrative structure responsible for technical and vocational education, or responsible for overall curriculum development institutions of higher education. The examples of two countries, Kenya and Nigeria, may be cited in this respect. In Kenya, the Bureau of Educational Research at the University of Nairobi is undertaking an industrial research project to evaluate technical and industrial education in the secondary schools and ways to improve articulation within the school system. Two institutions have been created in Nigeria responsible for overall educational research: the National Education Research Council and the Comparative Educational Study and Adaptation Centre. For most countries, however, the problem remains to co-ordinate the various research and information activities undertaken for education in general and technical and vocational education in particular.

The present chapter has only outlined the major problems and trends in innovation indicated by the reports as a whole and does not reflect the wealth of detail provided in many of them. Although the problems are very extensive indeed, and many of them can only be solved or partially solved in the long term, new innovative efforts are being made to deal with them. Hampered by negative attitudes towards the integration of general education and technical and vocational education, lack of material resources and human expertise, faced by so many other problems clamouring for attention, the task ahead for these countries is not an easy one. Many of the problems are, however, common ones, just as common approaches to innovation may be distinguished. In the search for innovative measures which may solve or alleviate these problems, strategies must be designed so that action, even to solve a problem of fairly limited scope, will have the widest possible repercussions on other problem areas: the problems discussed here are interlinked, and so are the solutions. Such strategies should be based on identification of all factors involved in a problem and analysis of the probable consequences of any action. It is in the exercise of developing these strategies that various countries may best benefit from the exchange of mutual experience and in this area that international co-operation may prove most effective in dealing with development problems and promoting innovative trends.

Conclusions

The present study has drawn a broad picture of the current situation with regard to technical and vocational education in the context of overall educational development, on the basis of reports from twenty-three representative developing countries. As this study is designed for an international audience, the emphasis has been placed on areas of experience common to several or most of the countries, rather than on the particularities, with a view to sharing information useful to a number of countries and to identifying areas for more effective international co-operation.

It is clear from the material provided by the various countries that approaches to both the philosophy and structure of education have changed radically in recent years, and the expansion and development of technical and vocational education is at the very core of this change. Real progress has been made in terms of basic legislation and adoption of policy indicating intent and the future direction of educational development. A number of new structures have been created or existing ones modified to implement this policy. This action has on the whole been conceived and initiated in the spirit of the Unesco Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education.

In virtually all the countries, specialized technical and vocational institutions offering preparation for an occupational field