Reimagining the paths to socio-economic transformation - Pt 1: The role of education

Canute Thompson, GUEST COLUMNIST

There has been ongoing debate about the changes that Jamaica must make to the structures of society in order for us to be on a path of sustainable socio-economic growth and development.

This debate appears to be imbalanced. At one level, some aspects of the debate have misrepresented the role of one important element of sustainable socio-economic development; and at another level, there has been insufficient focus on another fundamental aspect.

I wish to make a contribution to this debate and will present my position in three parts.

In Part 1, I will seek to re-examine the role of education and begin to make a case for how technical and vocational education and training (TVET) represents a critical lever in socio-economic transformation. In Part 2, I will explore some of the cultural obstacles that have thwarted efforts at integrating TVET in mainstream education. This piece will draw on data from a research a team I led conducted between March and June 2012. In the final instalment, I look at other cultural obstacles in addition to some institutional obstacles and propose some recommendations on the way forward.

Misrepresentation of the Role of 'Education'

In his classical work, 'Persistent Poverty - Underdevelopment in Plantation Economies of the Third World' (1972), the late George Beckford suggests that among the obstacles to change and transformation in the economies of the Third World were:

The low skill content of plantation work which inhibited the diffusion of skills and improvement in the quality of labour inputs.

Limited technical knowledge of production possibilities apart from the particular plantation crop.

In articulating where the solutions and paths to transformation lay, he made a number of insightful suggestions, two of which I wish to mention, namely:

(a) The securing of plantation linkages to increase market size, thereby making it economically feasible to establish industries allied to plantation production in areas such as processing, shipping, engineering and chemical industries.

(b) An education system directed to every individual, with the content of that education being of such as to "expand the creative horizons of people in order to promote greater use of the resource endowment of the plantation economy".

It has been 40 years since G-Beck (as he was affectionately called) articulated those profound ideas, and while as a nation we have made significant improve-ments compared to where we were in 1972 , we have not gone as far as we might.

One of the reasons we have not gone as far as we might have is that we have not taken full account of the recommendations of G-Beck. Specifically, we have not done as much as we could in the areas of processing, shipping, engineering and chemical industries. With respect to this area, we have given insufficient focus, and with respect to the education system, we have misrepresented its important role. By misrepresentation, I mean that we have not sought to use the avenue of education as creatively as we otherwise might have.

A more creative use would involve a more extensive focus on those areas to which we have given insufficient focus. The reasons for this are complex, and the problem must be owned by many sectors, not just the various governments or ministries of government, but also parents, pupils, teachers, the general public and the private sector.

PATH TO TRANSFORMATION

TVET is about life. Everything around me in this room in which I sit to write is partly or completely a product of TVET - from the tested lens through which I look, to the chair on which I sit and the laptop computer I am using. Properly understood, TVET is not a career but the application of skills to support life.

Various careers are devoted to addressing different aspects of life in modern society - whether medicine, all areas of engineering, food security, and communication. Each one of these, like all others, requires the application of TVET skills.

According to UNESCO, TVET is to be understood as an integral part of general education and a means of preparation for effective participation in the world of work in various occupational fields. This preparation involves lifelong learning, responsible citizenship, and the promotion of environmentally sound development and social transformation.

The critical importance of TVET to national development has been affirmed and promulgated by the United Nations for some 40 years, beginning in 1974 when it issued 'Revised Recommendation concerning Technical and Vocational Education'. Fosen (2012) argues that the goal of "education for all" and "TVET" are, in fact, 'two sides of the same coin'.

There has been increased fervour for TVET across the world as several countries have been placing greater importance on it. Jamaica, like other Caribbean countries, has long been promoting TVET as a necessary component of the educational enterprise, but the impact of these efforts is not where we would want it to be.

The African Union's Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education (2006-2015) recognises the importance of TVET as a means of empowering individuals to take control of their lives, and the defined strategy is the integration of vocational training into the general education system. The importance of TVET to socio-economic transformation has long been recognised by the countries of Southeast Asia (SEA), and TVET is an integral part of the mainstream education in these countries.

ROLE OF EDUCATION

When I was growing up in the late '60s and early '70s, I was taught that a good education was a gateway to a better life. This belief was held not only by Jamaicans but, perhaps, every nation under heaven. The presumption was that if one secured a good education, one's chances at prosperity were assured. But has that been the case? I think not, and the reason for this lies in the misrepresen-tation of the role of education.

Simply put, education is not a goal, it is a path. It is not a destination, it is a tool. Thus, it is the skills and competencies that one uses one's education to acquire that will determine the extent to which one's education fuels future success.

In the late 1990s to the early 2000s, India had one of the highest rates of PhDs per capita, yet during that period it was not among the world's developing economic giants. It has achieved this status since its expansion into ICT which, properly understood, is one of the many areas of TVET.

China is at present the world's leading economy. One of the major reasons for this is that nearly half of the workforce (43%) have acquired skills in TVET. By contrast, the economy of the USA is struggling because it has shifted its educational focus.

The heyday of America's economic strength was when people with TVET training represented the largest share of the workforce. Today, Ivy League graduates will typically end up on Wall Street.

PURPOSE OF SCHOOLING

Schools exist for the principal purpose of helping children learn how to solve problems. The differences among the levels of schooling are principally to be seen in terms of the scope of the kinds of problems students are expected to solve, and the nature of the preparation for the task of problem solving - a task which requires the creation of knowledge.

Thus, at the early childhood level, the objective is brain development, which is accomplished through various forms of stimulation, including play. At the early primary level, the objective is number, letter, word, idea recognition, and integration. At the later primary level, the objective is comprehension, interpretation and communication. At the secondary level, the objective is the acquisition of learning tools, literally learning how to learn and how to create knowledge.

At the tertiary level, the broad objective is the application of learning tools to create knowledge and solve complex problems. Ultimately, therefore, education becomes a tool in the hand of the learner to be used for a wide array of applications geared towards problem solving and knowledge creation. Thus, the educational enterprise may be seen as having two fundamental tasks:

(a) Helping learners become creators of knowledge.

(b) The application of learning in the development of tools by which we may live comfortably.

If these are the two fundamental purposes of schooling, wherein (b) is the evidence that (a) has occurred and is occurring, and if TVET is so critical to the expression of (b) and by extension the expression of (a), the question arises: "Why are there so many obstacles to the integration of TVET in mainstream education in so many countries?"

The answer to this question and how we can overcome some of the obstacles will be the focus of Parts 2 and 3 of this series.

Dr Canute Thompson is a leadership coach and certified management consultant. He is co-founder and convener of the Caribbean Centre for Leadership Re-Imagination and Practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and canutethompson1@gmail.com.