EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book takes an expansive view of vocational education and training. Drawing on case studies across rural and urban settings in ...Uganda and South Africa, the book offers a new way of seeing this through an exploration of the multiple ways in which people learn to have better livelihoods. Crucially, it explores learning that takes place informally online, within farmers’ groups and in public and private education institutions.
•Skills development is the outcome of a complex political economy process characterised by conflicting objectives, trade-offs and mis-aligned incentives among stakeholders.•Firms have different ...skills needs but also different organisational capabilities, hence they respond to policy incentives differently.•Building on a multi-staged research process, we conduct three Discrete Choice Experiments with over 200 firms to test the feasibility of different incentive packages in Tanzania.•We uncover latent preference structures differentiated by observable firm characteristics, most strongly by differences in technical capabilities, existing training provision and firm size.•We find that an effective strategy for the Tanzanian skills sector would need to include a differentiated approach – that is, an incentive package prioritising the quality of VET outcomes for high capability firms and complementary measures for low capability firms aimed at graduating from low to high capability status.
Skills gaps and mismatches are widely documented as a hindrance to inclusive structural transformation across developing countries, especially in Africa. What is often overlooked, however, is the fact that skills development is a complex political economy process challenged by institutional and financing problems on the supply side, and inadequate demand, that is, a shortage of firms that can organise skilled labour and provide on-the-job training effectively. In such adverse contexts, rent seeking and corruption may arise from conflicting objectives, trade-offs and mis-aligned incentives among stakeholders – public sector skills providers and firms. With a focus on Tanzania, we (i) analyse the incentive structures underlying such rule-breaking behaviours and processes, and (ii) empirically test alternative institutional design strategies that would better align the interests of different stakeholders towards improved skills development outcomes. Building on over 30 in-depth stakeholder interviews in 2018, we conducted three Discrete Choice Experiments with over 200 firms to test the feasibility of different incentive packages in 2019. Our main hypothesis is that the successful re-alignment of stakeholders’ incentives must consider both the different and potentially conflicting objectives of public training institutions and the heterogeneity in skills needs and capabilities of different types of firms. We uncover latent preference structures differentiated by observable firm characteristics, most strongly by differences in technical capabilities, existing training provision and firm size. We conclude advancing an evidence-based tailored skills policy reform.
Most employees no longer have constant working conditions. In fact, the world of work is subject to constant change. Consequently, successful learning transfer is becoming a central requirement for ...continuing vocational training (CVT). In this article, evaluation tools and learning transfer tools are outlined in their historical development and their application in practice is discussed. The author's empirical study cited in the article shows that there is a considerable gap between the theoretical findings and their practical implementation in practice. The author developed an agile learning transfer process model that provides an opportunity to close the existing gap between theoretical knowledge and its lack of practical application. The developed learning transfer process model is agile and flexible in its handling and at the same time achieves a high degree of efficiency.
This paper examines the impacts of vocational training for persons with disabilities (PWDs). In heavily mined areas of rural Cambodia, adults with limb amputation or paralysis were randomly assigned ...to either a treatment group (invited to participate in an intensive training program in mechanics and services) or a control group (not invited to participate). Over 30% of PWDs in the treatment group participated in the program and none in the control group did so. Although being assigned to the treatment group greatly increased PWDs’ employment and earnings, experiences of discrimination reported by them and their disability stigma (self-stigmatization) also increased. The paper shows suggestive evidence for skill acquisition and networking for employment and negative self-stereotyping leading to stigma.
•I examine impacts of vocational training for persons with physical disabilities.•I conducted a field experiment in heavily mined areas of rural Cambodia.•The recruitment for the training greatly increased employment and earnings.•Self-reported experiences of discrimination and disability stigma also increased.•Negative self-stereotyping leading to self-stigmatization is suggested.
The issue of employment and a decent living is crucial. This is complicated by developing an increasingly global world with increasingly fierce competition. Training is a factor in the development of ...Human Resources (HR). The success of an activity program depends on the management and evaluation results of the training program. This research aims to analyze the management and evaluation of the Ponorogo Regency Vocational Training Center. This research was a descriptive study with a qualitative approach using observation, interviews, and documentation. The information is obtained first, then used sources and techniques to triangulate it before being presented for discussion. The results of this study stated that training management at the Vocational Training Center (VTC) includes: the training process at the Vocational Training Center (VTC) covers planning, organization, implementation, and evaluation. The evaluation results show that the training met all requirements and needs (antecedents phase), was effectively implemented (transaction phase), and produced good average test results for trainees (outcomes phase). This indicates the VTC's commitment to providing quality training with successful outcomes.
This manual presents the training process for the Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding course, implemented by Makerere and Cornell Universities, over a period of five years (2016-2020), under the ...Gender-Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT) project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It has five broad parts: I) Introduction; II) Required preparation before the course; III) Phase one (9-day, face-to-face training); IV) the 5-month Field Training phase; and V) Phase two (5-day, face-to-face training). Each session consists of specific learning objectives, session plans and slides, delivery methods, practical exercises and examples, as well as relevant tips and synthesized take-home messages. The sessions were developed by an international multidisciplinary team of experts in gender and agriculture and subjected to a rigorous peer review and quality assurance process. GREAT aims to contribute to building a pool of gender-responsive agricultural researchers able to advance more equitable and effective agricultural systems in Africa and beyond. This manual is for all facilitators/trainers interested in applied, gender responsive agricultural research.
Basic vocational training (BVT) represents a new opportunity within the Spanish education system to reduce the school drop-out rate and ease the transition into the workplace. However, this ...educational route is highly male-dominated and presents a high degree of segregation by gender and pathways. It was therefore necessary to carry out a gender-based analysis and investigate the processes, options and reasons behind students' decisions to opt for a particular professional category. To achieve this, we carried out 35 in-depth interviews at educational centres that teach BVT in the Valencian Community, Spain. Our main findings were that BVT is not only highly male-dominated, but that the female-dominated branches are few and far between, are still subject to strong stereotypes, enjoy less prestige and have fewer job prospects. Therefore, BVT and its impacts are far from gender neutral. In addition, this negatively influences future training and employment options and choices, especially for females, which obviously has a direct impact on their professional careers and life courses.
Objectives: This study aims to uncover the challenges faced by vocational education students in Jordan in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A sample of 1200 newly joined students was selected ...from the Vocational Training Corporation in the central region of Jordan. A questionnaire was designed, consisting of two domains: challenges related to infrastructure and challenges related to students. The validity and consistency of the questionnaire were verified. Results: The findings indicate that the level of challenges facing the students is high, both at the infrastructure level and the students’ level, with no statistically significant effect on gender. Practical training necessitates specific materials, tools, and instruments that cannot be adequately provided through distance education. Conclusions: The study recommends improving the infrastructure of the vocational training institution to enhance the quality of education and training. Additionally, there is a need to increase financial support for the institution to effectively implement vocational training programs. Lastly, a comprehensive review of educational policies is necessary.
This open access book challenges international policy ‘groupthink’ about lifelong learning. Adult learning – too long a servant of business competitiveness – should be reimagined as central to ...democratic society. Young adults, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, engage more in education and training, and learn more day-to-day at work, if provision is democratically organised and based on enduring and inclusive institutional networks, and when jobs encourage and reward the acquisition of skills. Using innovative qualitative and quantitative methods, the contributors develop a critical perspective on dominant policies, investigating – across the European Union and Australia – how ‘vulnerable’ young adults experience programmes designed to improve their ‘employability’, and how ‘skills for jobs’ policies squeeze out wider – and wiser – ideas of what education and training should do. Chapters show why some provision works for those with poor educational backgrounds, why labour market and educational institutions matter so much, how adult education can empower and expand people’s agency, and the challenges of using artificial intelligence in lifelong learning policy-making. Several investigate the pivotal role of workplace learning in organisational life, and in learning during ‘emerging adulthood’. Important comparative studies of workplace learning in the metals, retail and adult education sectors show the role of management, trade unions and social movements in young adults’ learning.
To analyse democratic and legal labour relations in the current conditions of economic and social development means, first and foremost, to highlight their essence and main features, as well as the ...development trends and future improvements of these relations.The year 2021, like 2020, has been characterized, among others, by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has produced various effects. As an effort to mitigate these effects, the Government of Kosovo has undertaken measures to support employment through the economic recovery package. Based on this context, the main and only purpose of the 1st Measure of economic recovery is the support of employment. Active employment measures have played a very important role in the integration of unemployed persons into the labour market. One of these measures with the largest number of beneficiaries is Vocational Training. Vocational training is a fundamental and very important process to get a job. In this sense, even the latest statistical data (2021) of the official authorities of Kosovo prove that the largest beneficiaries of active labour market measures are the persons who have undergone vocational training. The purpose of Vocational Training is to enable an increase or adoption of professional knowledge, namely to acquire additional knowledge,skills and abilitiesto perform efficient work, in order to increase the prospect of employment or retain their employment. Based on the international aspect, employment and the labour market are under the pressure of many factors, such as demographic, technological, economic and political ones; therefore, vocational training is considered as one of the mostsuccessful active labour market measures.