What happened to alternative lower-secondary education in Mauritius? : The extended programme as a case of misguided curriculum, unfair assessment, and social injustice

The recent Nine-Year Continuous Basic Education (NYCBE) reform has brought about a dramatic change in the provision of alternative lower-secondary education in the Republic of Mauritius. Whereas the previous prevocational education (PVE) programme allowed educators to make use of an aims-based curriculum to respond to the learning profile of children marginalised within the primary education system by formatively catering for their holistic development in an inclusive and integrated manner and preparing them for vocational pathways, the new extended programme (EP) proposes to engage those same learners with a knowledge-based curriculum that focuses heavily on subject learning and high-stakes examinations. Our aim in this article is to examine, through the lens of social justice, the aims, objectives and expectations of the two alternative education programmes, and elaborate, by looking at aspects of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, on how the EP ends up being a fundamentally flawed and poorly implemented programme that undermines the development and potential for human flourishing of the learners concerned. Implications for educators involved in the programme will also be touched upon.

Citizenship in prevocational education: Professional pride as a source

The practice of citizenship education has predominantly been studied in general education. This article details an interview study of citizenship education of teachers in prevocational education in the Netherlands. We investigated whether and how vocational teachers reflected on their goals and teaching practices in citizenship education. Teachers did not perceive their teaching to be working on citizenship. However, they aimed at developing professional attitudes in their students, emphasising participation and ‘doing their work well’ in order to become respected and personally responsible workers/employees. In technical education, the development of pride in and shared responsibility for the quality of the students’ craftwork was emphasised. These findings are discussed in relation to Sennett’s views on the development of craftsmanship as citizenship. We see these views as strategic openings for an alternative to the dominant verbal, individualising and adaptation oriented approach of citizenship education.

MODELLING OF PREVOCATIONAL EDUCATION OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS: SITUATION AND OPPORTUNITIES

The aim of the present article – to reveal the directions of prevocational education of students with SEN, actual situation and opportunities. In 2012 in Lithuania the research of the Delphi group was performed where 13 experts having direct pedagogical experience in working with students having SEN participated. In the article the influence of traditions in the country on the success of prevocational education, the importance of the creation of the interaction child-family-school-community have been analyzed, the main aims of prevocational education, actual situation and directions to be improved have been revealed.