SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
3
EDITORIAL TEAM
CAMPUS PRINCIPAL
Professor Brian Copeland
AG. DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Wynell Gregorio
AG. EDITOR
Shereen Ann Ali
email:
CONTACT US
The UWI Marketing and
Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002, exts. 82013 / 83997
or email:
The Trinidad and Tobago
Ministry of Education
(MoE )
r e c e n t l y pu t
out a Draft Education
Policy paper for public
comment. The MoE is
to be commended for
drafting of the policy
document, and, more so,
for grounding it in the UN
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). In my many
discussions at The UWI
and at public forums, I have commented that the
current system was not designed for us, and needs to
be “flipped on its head” to effect the kind of changes
required. Although the policy paper falls a bit short of
being revolutionary, its implementation in its current
form will put the country’s national education system
closer to an ideal state in which each citizen would be
fully prepared to overcome the social, ecological and
economic challenges of the future, while securing a
decent standard of living.
The UWI St Augustine Campus has suggested how
the policy should be shaped to ensure that the learning
capacity of our citizens is maximised for the public
good. This editorial addresses the key points raised in
our feedback.
The policy document might have been better
informed by addressing the very fundamental question:
What is the real purpose of education, and the
consequent need of a National Education system?
This
question facilitates a more holistic and philosophical
perspective, unfettered by the status quo. In past
editorials, I have stated the current position ofThe UWI,
that the primary rationale for a national education system
should be to enable citizens to “survive and thrive” in
societal scenarios that range from the catastrophic to the
ideal, however defined.
In particular, even as it prepares citizens for survival
in the world of work, our education systemmust consist
of a
core “curriculum”
that ensures that every citizen has
the knowledge and skills, inclusive of the physical and
mental abilities, to live through widespread catastrophes.
In this state, it is quite likely that citizens will have to
fend for themselves, having been cut off from their usual
sources of supply required to sustain life. The challenges
we faced following the recent deluge speak resoundingly
to this.
The survival rationale also requires every citizen
to have effective
mastery of body and mind
. If we
could move our society to this level of self-mastery, we
would have given our citizens a gift that is second best
only to the gift of life itself. We would have a citizenry
robustly prepared to realize their full potential, and to
live through the worst in situations where they have
to fend for themselves. The policy paper addresses the
mental and emotional aspects, but does not adequately
cover the physical.
The abovemakes a strong case for the implementation
of a
mandatory period of national service
for all young
citizens. A well-designed system of national service
would foster civic mindedness and national pride,
sharpen basic survival skills and promote social cohesion.
The paper speaks of building “capacity and capability
specifically in art and design, so that concepts and
finished products can be fashioned, licensed and scaled
up for mass production”. This is a laudable objective, one
that is in line with The UWI initiatives for developing
a stronger culture of innovation that drives increased
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
PROFESSOR BRIAN COPELAND
Campus Principal
Re-energising the national education system
export entrepreneurship. To achieve this objective, our
education system must move away from the purely
functional approach to learning, to embed a curriculum
core that strategically integrates
science, technology,
arts, engineering and mathematics (STEAM)
. There
is strong contemporary and historical evidence that
STEAM, as a strategically holistic combination of arts
and technology, is the educational paradigm to nurture
the innovative thinking required of “21st Century
Learners”. In our context, STEAM is needed to create the
individuals who would achieve the targets that we believe
should characterise an effective economic diversification
initiative – the growth in economic entrepreneurship that
results in an SME sector that earns at least 30% of our
foreign exchange requirements within 15 years.
The policy paper sets as one of its goals, the
“access
to educational opportunities by all learners”.
This is
a very laudable goal, one that resonates with the UWI
Access theme in its current strategic plan. Although not
mentioned in the draft document, this goal (Goal 2)
reminded me of a discussion in local education circles
a few years ago on the forging of a
seamless education
system
– one that provides the opportunities for learners
to achieve their desired educational goals, regardless of
their present educational development.
Such a system would consist of
multiple pathways
that would engender articulation (vertical and horizontal)
across the different levels from primary school right
through to tertiary education, inclusive of TVET, for
seamless and continuous learning. This includes the
various system components that would allow, say, a
primary school dropout to go ultimately to university or
a CVQ-certified individual to do the same.The discourse
should resume to enable the level of access required to
optimise the education potential for all citizens.
One of the issues raised in the paper is that of TVET.
The situational assessment on TVET does not paint
a pretty picture of a sector that has so much promise.
We are particularly concerned that the stigmatisation
issue still remains. I fully agree with Didicus Jules,
now Director General of the OECS, who, in a 2011
article declared that “TVET has not taken root in
Caribbean education systems because notwithstanding
the discourse, it is still treated by planners and seen by
the public as a compensatory device”. In other words,
TVET is viewed as the path to be taken by those who
do not succeed at the academics. We are happy to see
that the report speaks to these challenges and includes
proposals for filling the gaps. The UWI has provided a
few suggestions to complement the initiatives proposed
by the Ministry to improve the TVET sector.
The elimination of TVET stigmatisation would help
forge a strengthened education system and workforce.
We propose initiatives that include, inter alia:
• the strengthening of the monitoring and evaluation
framework to facilitate articulation from TVET to
academic streams;
• expansion of TVET programmes through Caribbean
Vocational Qualification (CVQ) certification from
the current 81 schools to all 190 secondary schools
in the next five years, making one CVQ-certified
TVET subject mandatory for each secondary school
student;
• the continued promotion of CVQ programmes at
higher education institutions; and
• the creation or strengthening of the licensing regime
for a wider range of “trades”. The latter will have the
benefit of professionalising the vocations as well as
providing a greater degree of comfort to users of
these services.
The CVQ system has two ver y appealing
characteristics. First, it is
competency based
, i.e., one can
only acquire the CVQ certificate by actual demonstration
of the required skill to do the work in the relevant field.
Further, the continuous assessment nature also provides
a level of instant gratification that encourages and
motivates the candidate on an ongoing basis. Finally, by
virtue of the above, graduates are, at least theoretically,
immediately ready to work in the area in which they are
qualified. It is interesting to note that many universities
abroad are embracing the concept of Competency Based
Education and Training (CBET) to improve the work
readiness of graduates.
These proposals for CVQ expansion should go a long
way to reducing the misplaced stigma associated with
TVET and are based on experience in TVET delivery
over the years. In particular, experience with early CVQ
offerings in secondary schools shows that, if well done,
a mandatory CVQ curriculum can positively impact on
academic achievement and discipline. Furthermore, at
The UWI,The Faculty of Engineering at St. Augustine has
worked with NESC since 2009 to offer CVQ components
to students in its pre-engineering programme. In
addition, the School of Education offers a Master of
Art in Education – Leadership in Technical Vocational
Education and Training (TVET) and Workforce
Development.
The University of the West Indies again commends
the Ministry of Education and its staff for drafting a
policy document that considers how the many facets of
our education can be made more effective in preparing
the citizen of the future. As with any draft document,
changes will be required to ensure that the policy that
will ultimately determine the fate of our young citizens
is optimised for maximumbenefit. It is in this regard that
I call upon citizens to make their contribution by taking
part in the ongoing public consultations. The paper and
details on the consultation process are provided on the
Ministry’s website.
