report-vocational-education

Report: What’s wrong with vocational ed?


A new OECD report suggests that while post-secondary vocational programs are growing worldwide, changes need to be made to bring out their fullest potential

report-vocational-educationVocational ed programs need better qualifications, need to include work place experience and need a better overall definition.

These characteristics, explains a new report, are just some of the revamps needed to update vocational education’s image–an image in desperate need of a 21st-century makeover.

The report, published by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, estimates that while one third of all job vacancies will call for some degree of post-secondary qualifications by 2018 in the United States, traditional four-year degrees will not necessarily be required; leading to a boom in vocational ed.

The problem is, vocational ed worldwide still needs work in order to provide students with the right workplace skills for today’s job market.

This is just one of many interesting findings presented in OECD’s recently released Skills Beyond Schools: Synthesis Report, which analyzes international post-secondary vocational education trends.

The study is a follow up to 2013’s A Skills Beyond School Review of the United States, and affirms the growing importance of competency-based education (CBE) programs, which offer alternative pathways for students with existing experience, difficulty meeting rising tuition costs, or interest in jobs within fast-growing sectors such as healthcare technicians and junior managers.

Featuring interviews with policy makers, employers, teachers, students, and education experts from 22 actively participating countries including the U.S., the report largely found that these vocational education programs are in need of better skill instruction; specifically in teaching the higher level skills needed to fill jobs that are becoming readily available in growing markets.

Beyond simply identifying issues in post-secondary vocational education, though, the study also offers a host of suggestions for overall improvement.

(Next Page: The OECD’s ideas for enhancing vocational programs worldwide)

One of the main areas identified by the OECD when it comes to improvement is the need for a stronger overall image for post-secondary vocational programs. Because many similar programs go by a host of different names, simply agreeing upon a single term for these programs could go a long way when it comes to brand image for the field. The OECD offers “Professional education and training” as the term that should be used internationally.

Additionally, the report urges the need for better coordination between the institution, students, and even employers so that “qualifications are comprehensible and accessible to key stakeholders.” Better data on professional examinations and consolidated training that does not overlap are major ways that this enhanced coordination can be achieved.

Another highly important focus of professional education and training should be work-based learning, emphasizes the report. Learning on the job gives students an idea of employer needs while at the same time encouraging networking and recruitment. The report stresses, though, that “it should be systematic, quality assured, and credit-bearing.” Teachers who have industry experience in addition to their pedagogical skills and academic knowledge are also key towards imparting professional expertise towards students.

Though qualifications in professional education and training programs need to be clearly defined, the report also considers that “relaxing those requirements in favor of an emphasis on learning outcomes (regardless of how they are realized) could yield multiple efficiencies.” Through this may seem somewhat contradictory at first glance, it aims to advocate for students with any extensive previous experience or competence-based examinations to be recognized; giving them an opportunity for quicker advancement if they can pass reliably consistent and demanding assessments displaying what they had learned previously.

Additionally, the OECD found that the best vocational programs offered a wide range of opportunities to upper secondary vocational graduates by providing strong career guidance and supporting their training and development of management skills.

Aside from the vocational specialization, though, the report says basic skills still need to be encouraged. Basic literacy and numeracy skills are critical for labor and market success, and for that reason need to be assessed at the outset of programs in order to address any issues from the start. Similarly, integrating further opportunities for mastering these basic skills within professional programs is highly encouraged.

Also, the report points out that a large makeup of these programs include older students who have to balance their training with jobs and obligations to their homes. For that reason, the report encourages flexible modes of study, including part-time and modular arrangements, distance learning, and competence-based approaches in order to best accommodate that segment of the student body.

Finally, many graduates of these short-cycle professional programs often want to continue their learning at other academic instructions. In order to help these desires, the report suggests a greater framework be built to help establish how programs relate to one another, which can be achieved through greater transparency and more tangible measurements of learning outcomes that professional programs can give to more traditional academic institutions.

Though the findings above comprise the major ideas of the OECD’s report, take a more in depth look at the full report here.

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