STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING LEVEL OF ONLINE TEACHING IN THE TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET) SECTOR

Although online education is not a recently emerged concept, the popularity of the concept has been boosted with the pandemic COVID-19, where the students have to depend totally on online education and they have been framed in it forcefully irrespective of the fact whether online education suits all type of education, especially for the sectors where the practicality is given the priority such as in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector. Therefore, there arises a need to investigate the understanding level of the students. The objectives of this research are to identify the students’ understanding level of online teaching and to evaluate the relationship between the understanding level of students and online teaching methods. The population of the study was all the students in the TVET sector in Sri Lanka and the sample was 294 students from 6 university colleges. Structured questionnaires were distributed among the sample for data collection. Descriptive analysis and correlation analysis were employed in the data analysis. The results discovered that a majority of students understand the online theoretical lecture delivery but they lack infrastructure facilities to engage in the academic activities. There is a low level of understanding of practical lessons. Moreover, the results visualize a moderate positive relationship between the students’ understanding level and online teaching methods. The researchers suggested that online teaching can be used for theory lectures in critical situations such as disasters but for the practical sessions, the student should physically be present to the field. Efficient strategies relevant to each type of professional qualification provided by the institutes should be implemented.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training Fund in Nepal: Present Practice and Way Forward

In the last few decades, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) expanded significantly in Nepal. However, the actors of TVET are uncoordinated and are implementing programmes with fragmented governance. The international experience shows TVET fund is one of the approaches to coordinate fragmented TVET stakeholders and enhance the quality of TVET. In absence of such an integrated TVET fund in Nepal, this paper urges for establishing TVET fund and sketches the possible approaches with reformed TVET structure. For this, first, we reviewed the literature particularly the perceived international practices of implementing TVET fund. Further, we arranged an interaction with TVET stakeholders and collected their views on the establishment of the TVET fund in Nepal. Based on findings of the research, the paper provides five possible models for establishing TVET fund mechanism in Nepal. All the models have their strengths and challenges, so it would be rational to adopt the idea of strengthening existing structure rather than making it stand alone. For this, a developing strong research and innovation, effective implementing body, and independent quality assurance and accreditation system is equally important for its effective implementation.

Issues and Challenges Facing The Teaching and Learning of Tvet in The Covid-19 Pandemic Era

This manuscript aims at discussing the issues and challenges facing the teaching and learning of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the COVID-19 pandemic era. Next, the manuscript discussed how stakeholders (e.g. governments, parents as well as TVET managers, lecturers and students can seize the opportunity to revamp TVET programme in the post COVID-19 era. Finally, the manuscript discussed the possible ways to overcome the issues and challenges facing TVET programmes in the COVID-19 pandemic era. Consequently, the authors drew logical conclusions on the discussions arising from the subject matter.

PENERAPAN NILAI KEROHANIAN ISLAM DALAM PERANCANGAN KERJAYA PELAJAR TVET

Kerjaya merupakan satu agenda penting dalam Islam dalam merealisasikan konsep dunia sebagai jambatan ke akhirat. Kerjaya yang baik perlu dirancang bagi memastikannya kongruen, halal dan menepati kehendak Islam walaupun dalam bidang teknikal yang penuh dengan amali dan kerja tangan. Penerapan nilai kerohanian Islam merupakan perkara yang perlu ada dalam perancangan kerjaya bagi memastikan pelan perancangan menepati kehendak syariat Islam. Justeru, kajian ini telah dilakukan untuk meneroka penerapan nilai kerohanian dalam perancangan kerjaya pelajar Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET). Kajian berbentuk kualitatif ini menggunakan Focus Group Discussion (FGD) sebagai kaedah kutipan data. Peserta kajian terdiri daripada 12 orang lulusan kolej komuniti dan politeknik telah berjaya dalam kerjaya yang digabungkan bersama tiga orang pensyarah teknikal yang berpengalaman bagi menguatkan hasil dapatan. Hasil analisis tema terhadap perbincangan FGD telah berjaya menemui enam tema utama dan sepuluh sub tema. Tema utama ialah (1) Niat, (2) Azam, (3) Sabar, (4) Istiqamah, (5) Doa dan Tawakal, dan (6) Jaga Hubungan. Hasil kajian ini dapat dijadikan panduan untuk pelajar TVET dalam merangka kerjaya mereka berpandukan syariat Allah SWT. Career is an important agenda in Islam towards the concept of the world as a bridge to after death. A good career needs to be planned to ensure that it is congruent, halal and meets the requirements of Islam even in a technical field that is full of practicals and manual labour. The application of spiritual values is a must in career planning to ensure that the planning meets the requirements of Islamic law. This is because, without the element of spirituality, an individual is empty in terms of manners to be a good employee. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the application of spiritual values in career planning required by Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) students to be a balanced workforce in terms of skills and manners. This qualitative study used Focus Group Discussion (FGD) as the data collection method. The study participants consisted of 12graduates of community colleges and polytechnics who have been successful in their careers, combined with three experienced technical lecturers to strengthen the findings. The results of the thematic analysis of the FGD discussion have successfully found six main themes and ten subthemes. The main themes are (1) Intention, (2) Determination, (3) Patience, (4) Istiqamah, (5) Prayer and Trust, and (6) Keeping Relationships. The results of this study can be used as a guide for TVET students in planning their careers based on the law of Allah SWT.

Technical and Vocational Education and Technology Transfer: Departments of Civil Engineering Technology at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, PAAE&T, Kuwait, As A Case Study

Technology transfer is the main ingredient of technical and vocational education. The transfer of know-how and know-why can take several forms either within technical and vocational institutions boundaries such as: transfer of technology from research and development department to other academic departments or interactions and exchange of technology between academic departments. The transfer of technology can transcend technical and vocational institutions boundaries to allow a free transformation and exchange of technology with local and international industries and business. The main objective is to enhance the quality of technical and vocational graduates as well as to provide industries and business with the require skilled and semi-skilled manpower able to managing, maintain, adapt, and monitor the technology applied in various production processes. Therefore, for a successful transfer of technology, a mutual interest has to be achieved for both parties (the provider of technology and the recipient of technology). The management of technical and vocational education must exert their time and efforts to gain the best fruitful results from the transfer of technology in enhancing their academic capabilities (e.g., upgrading the standard of workshops and laboratories, applying and effective scheme for reviewing and assessing curriculum development, enhancing staff competencies) in order to meet the quality assurance standard in producing a high quality of graduates. In this paper, I present some of the empirical results and observations which describe the interactions between the supplier of technology (Civil Engineering Technology) and the recipient of the technology (PAAE&T) in the field of technology transfer. In other word, whether the PAAE&T have taken the opportunity, while building its new headquarter, in the transfer of technology from the supplier Civil Engineering Technology to its academic staff in its various Civil Engineering Academic Departments in its various colleges and institutions. The paper argues that, for effective and efficient transfer of technology, the recipient (PAAE&T) must ensure that the agreement with the supplier of Civil Engineering Technology include calluses that would allow the PAAE&T academic staff in the Civil Engineering Academic Departments in its various colleges and institutions to acquire the technology embedded in the agreement. The paper concludes that the transfer of technology and the building of a local scientific and technical infrastructure must be viewed by Kuwaiti decision-makers as a complementary to one another. Thus, reducing, to great extent, the level of dependence on expatriate, particularly in essential sector of the economy.

21st Century competencies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Rhetoric and reality in the wake of a pandemic

There is general agreement about the need for vocational education and training to embrace so-called modern technologies in gearing up to deliver to young people a broad range of what have become known as 21st century competencies, of which digital literacy, self-directed learning, and adaptive learning are but three. Recent Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies in South Africa incorporate the language of future competencies that ought to be acquired by college students through their curricula and delivered by lecturers with appropriate professional training. But in April 2020, confronted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and an immediate hard lockdown, TVET colleges went into crisis mode to try to meet a government demand that no student be left behind. While blended and remote methodologies had been employed to some extent in a few college programmes, the pandemic suddenly launched all lecturers into technology dependent teaching and learning. This article is based on a survey of conveniently selected public TVET college lecturers early in the lockdown who were under enormous pressure to continue the academic programme remotely. The snapshot I obtained was one of anxiety and consternation, but also of deep concern for students and their wellbeing under inordinately difficult conditions. Their conflicting priorities while they tried to balance remote teaching responsibilities and personal needs were illustrative of Maslow's well-known theorisation of humans and their hierarchy of needs. The limited research I conducted for this article was exploratory at a time in the pandemic when there were more questions than answers in every sphere of social interaction. My findings, therefore, do not seek to be definitive and there was full understanding that the education and training landscape was dynamic and shifting. However, what can be shared here is a moment in time to appreciate the experiences of a critical component of the TVET college sector under emergency conditions, and the distance they would have had to traverse towards official exhortations to leave no student behind.

Partnerships between Cambodia’s Government, NGOs, and the Private Sector in Technical and Vocational Education Training from the NGOs’ Perspectives

<p>Three-way or tri-sector partnerships were proposed in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (2002) as a way to reduce poverty and achieve development targets by 2015 (Warner & Sullivan, 2006). These partnerships are between government, civil society and the private sector, and there is not much research on how such partnerships work in the development world. The purpose of this research is to explore the effectiveness of partnerships between Cambodia’s government, NGOs, and the private sector in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), particularly from the NGOs’ perspective. The research methodology used in this study was a qualitative case study. Data was collected from in-depth interviews as well as document analysis, such as NGO’s annual reports, project agreements with Cambodia’s government, and other related documents from three NGOs working in the TVET sector in Phnom Penh. This research used Creswell’s framework (2014) for qualitative data analysis and interpretation. The findings conclude that the tri-sector partnerships within one NGO to that of another NGO are quite different depending on the level of trust and interdependence of the parties. These partnerships between government, the business sector and NGOs are based upon the belief that collaboration brings benefits to each actor. From the business’s side, the benefits include the improvement of industrial production processes and productivity due to an increased supply of well-skilled staff. From the NGOs’ perspective, the benefits include accessing enterprises’ equipment and expertise. The government provides decentralised powers to local government to facilitate the working process of the NGOs and the private sector. These findings provide insight into Cambodia’s tri-sector TVET partnerships, making a contribution to understandings and knowledge of NGOs in TVET and their partners.</p>

Partnerships between Cambodia’s Government, NGOs, and the Private Sector in Technical and Vocational Education Training from the NGOs’ Perspectives

<p>Three-way or tri-sector partnerships were proposed in the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (2002) as a way to reduce poverty and achieve development targets by 2015 (Warner & Sullivan, 2006). These partnerships are between government, civil society and the private sector, and there is not much research on how such partnerships work in the development world. The purpose of this research is to explore the effectiveness of partnerships between Cambodia’s government, NGOs, and the private sector in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), particularly from the NGOs’ perspective. The research methodology used in this study was a qualitative case study. Data was collected from in-depth interviews as well as document analysis, such as NGO’s annual reports, project agreements with Cambodia’s government, and other related documents from three NGOs working in the TVET sector in Phnom Penh. This research used Creswell’s framework (2014) for qualitative data analysis and interpretation. The findings conclude that the tri-sector partnerships within one NGO to that of another NGO are quite different depending on the level of trust and interdependence of the parties. These partnerships between government, the business sector and NGOs are based upon the belief that collaboration brings benefits to each actor. From the business’s side, the benefits include the improvement of industrial production processes and productivity due to an increased supply of well-skilled staff. From the NGOs’ perspective, the benefits include accessing enterprises’ equipment and expertise. The government provides decentralised powers to local government to facilitate the working process of the NGOs and the private sector. These findings provide insight into Cambodia’s tri-sector TVET partnerships, making a contribution to understandings and knowledge of NGOs in TVET and their partners.</p>

INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE ON ATTITUDE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Nigeria is intended to help the federal and state education authorities in their determination to revitalize, reform, and expand the provision of skills, vocations, science, and technology geared towards the socio-economic development of the nation. TVET also includes a wide range of skills development opportunities incorporated into national and local contexts. There are increasing insinuations suggesting that TVET in the Nigerian set-up is challenged by unfavorable perceptions of the concept by learners. The primary aim of the study is to examine secondary school students attitudes based on TPC. One hundred and sixteen senior secondary school students drawn from public and private secondary schools in Kogi State participated in the study. The participants completed self-report measures on attitude towards TVE and perceived teachers pedagogical competence. The findings revealed that 65.5% of the respondents expressed a negative attitude towards science process skills. Also, it was found that teachers pedagogical competence influenced attitude towards TVET. The findings and practical implications of the study are discussed.