Introduction
Vocational Education and Training (VET) increasingly plays a crucial role within development objectives and processes in different regions all over the world. It is expressed on the one hand in declarations in developed countries – for example in the Copenhagen Declaration of the European Union1 – where they stressed: “…the important role of education and training as an integral part of economic and social policies, as an instrument for strengthening Europe’s competitive power worldwide, and as a guarantee for ensuring the cohesion of our societies and the full development of its citizens. The European Council set the strategic objective for the European Union to become the world’s most dynamic knowledge-based economy. The development of high quality vocational education and training is a crucial and integral part of this strategy, notably in terms of promoting social inclusion, cohesion, mobility, employability, and competitiveness.” 1
Investing in human resources which is conductive to reducing unemployment and under-employment, providing people with employable skills and qualifi cations that supports and sustains competitiveness in a rapidly changing global economy, should be the main thrust of economic reconstruction. Taking these factors into consideration for economic and social development, it is suggested that investing in TVET-training makes good economic sense and will provide return of investment both for companies and the society at large. Therefore, the quality of training and retraining at all levels needs to be raised in order to match current and future changes in the labour market.
Actually, the existing vocational training programs have often not been demand- driven. They have not always provided graduates with marketable skills, knowledge, competence, and qualifi cations. This has resulted in a serious imbalance between labour supply and demand. Because decisions are mostly driven by limited funding
instead of the demands of the market, there is a prevalence of inappropriate curricula, lack of adequate training materials and equipment, and a fragmented system of under-funded institutions that tend to duplicate training efforts.
Today’s labour markets demand a fl exible and effective system of TVET that combines formal instruction with practical experience, and that respond to the changing needs for skills and competencies. Such a system should not only provide training for new entry into the labour market, but should also cater to retraining in the light of new skill requirements. In this respect, mechanisms to combat biases and prejudice, especially against women, immigrants, and ethnic minorities are vital. 2
It has been recognised that the traditional monolithic TVET-programmes lasting from two to four years are proving increasinly inadequate for the needs of today’s job market. Hence, there are various reasons for modularization within the TVET sector, including:
•
greater fl exibility in planning and organization of education and training programmes• improved economic effi ciency and effectiveness of education and training programmes
• greater adaptability to the needs of the labour market • greater adaptability to individual needs
• real choice of personal advancement through various learning and training implementation processes that support the acquisition of professional qualifi cations for both vertical and horizontal mobility
Modules may be either independent or part of a wider training programme or learning environment, that leads to vocational qualifi cations.
In this context “Qualifi cation Frameworks”, combined with credit systems, are under development in different regions. For example Europe has the “European Qualifi cation Framework (EQF)” linked to “the European Credit Transfer System in Vocational Education and Training (ECVET)”. However, one of the preconditions for a well functioning credit system is modularization, which focuses on the establishment of training units, courses, and modules, as well as using them as elements in further training. The modules and elements of training (teaching and learning processes) are the basis for planning and developing the curriculum, which includes all types of educational work (lectures,
Despite that, a more common view of the advantages of modularization amongst VET stakeholders exist as a result of ongoing national and international discussions. There are some controversial views about the following components that make up an overall modular systematic approach:
• standard settings, especially in reference to details and desired level; • assessment procedures, testing and certifi cation of modular structured
training programms;
• the issue “modularity” versus stability a modular approach offers the advantage of rapid changes in meeting specifi c demands of employers needs, but at the same time may confl ict with the need for coherent and well-defi ned competencies, which are stable but slow to change.
As the above mentioned components are pertinent and imperative in the overall process of modular training design, development, and implementation, it will be dealt with in this paper. As background, it needs to be mentioned that InWEnt began research in the 1990s to develop an appropriate methodology for developing fl exible, employment-oriented curricula and training designs. InWEnt’s approach on employment-oriented modular curricula design is now named “Modules of Employable Training” (MET).
TVET teachers should be prepared to apply methods of Modular Employment Oriented Curriculum Development.