R101 Vocational Training
(Agriculture) Recommendation, 1956
Recommendation concerning Vocational Training in Agriculture
Recommendation:R101
Place: Geneva
Session of the Conference:39
Date of adoption=26:06:1956
The General Conference of the International Labour
Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirty-ninth Session on 6
June 1956, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with
regard to vocational training in agriculture, which is the fourth item on the
agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form
of a Recommendation,
adopts this twenty-sixth day of June of the year one
thousand nine hundred and fifty-six, the following Recommendation, which may be
cited as the Vocational Training (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1956:
Whereas the International Labour Conference at its Third
Session adopted the Vocational Education (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1921,
which provides that each Member should endeavour to develop vocational
agricultural education and in particular to make such education available to
agricultural wage earners on the same conditions as to other persons engaged in
agriculture,
Whereas the International Labour Conference has examined in
considerable detail the question of vocational training in general, and has in
particular adopted the Vocational Training Recommendation, 1939, and the
Vocational Training (Adults) Recommendation, 1950,
Whereas the Permanent Agricultural Committee of the
International Labour Organisation has studied the particular aspects of
vocational training in agriculture and has made proposals concerning this
subject,
Whereas the Members should establish or expand adequate
systems of vocational training in agriculture,
The Conference recommends that each Member should apply the
following provisions as rapidly as national conditions allow and report to the
International Labour Office as requested by the Governing Body concerning the
measures taken to give effect thereto.
In each country the public authorities, other appropriate
bodies, or a combination of both, should ensure that vocational training in
agriculture is provided and organised in an effective, rational, systematic and
co-ordinated programme.
The objectives of vocational training in agriculture
should be clearly formulated in each country, reference being made to such
points as the need for:
imparting to farm men and women of different categories
(unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers, managers, operators and farm
housewives) the skills and knowledge necessary for the exercise of their
profession, instilling in them a sense of the social importance of the work they
are doing, and securing recognition by the public in general of the importance
of agriculture as an occupation;
more effective use of land and other natural resources,
labour and capital in agriculture;
conservation of soil and other natural resources
essential to agriculture;
increase of efficiency, production and yields in
agriculture and improvement of the quality and preparation of agricultural
products and of their appropriate processing on the farm with a view to
facilitating their marketing, and in particular raising the level of nutrition;
improvement of incomes, standards of living, employment
opportunities, working conditions and prospects of advancement in agriculture as
a contribution towards remedying the lack of balance between agriculture and
other occupations in these respects;
promotion of mechanisation, where appropriate, and of
safety in farm work, and the lightening of tasks in agriculture, especially for
women and children;
achieving a proper balance in employment between
agriculture and other branches of economic activity;
providing appropriate vocational guidance for rural
youth;
encouraging, as appropriate, the entry of young persons
into the various branches of agriculture in sufficient numbers;
overcoming of problems of seasonal unemployment and of
underemployment in agriculture;
closing the gap between technical developments affecting
agricultural production and their use in practice; and
improvement of rural life generally and the promotion of
greater satisfaction in agricultural work.
To these ends training should cover instruction in
adequate techniques and methods of work, the development of the capacity for
judgement and, as may be appropriate, instruction in the planning of farm
operations and the principles and practice of farm management; the training
should be related progressively to the capacity of the farm population to absorb
instruction, as determined, among other factors, by the level of social and
economic development, and should be so organised that in the end the rural
population may, as far as possible, receive an education and training
equivalent, in quality if not in detailed content, to that received by the urban
population.
The programme of vocational training in agriculture
should cover the whole agricultural population without distinction as to race,
religion, nationality or sex, and whatever the legal relation to the land, for
example prospective and actual farmers and farm workers, including seasonal
workers, farm women and workers in occupations closely related to agriculture.
Where necessary, in the initial stages and in the
underdeveloped countries, the programme may be limited in scope to the persons
who can be most effectively reached and instructed by the staff available, and
to the areas and categories of persons where the need for, and effects of,
instruction will be greatest.
In underdeveloped areas lacking training facilities one
of the first steps should be the creation of a body of trained teachers and
instructors who have an understanding of and sympathy for agricultural life, and
who, wherever possible, have themselves had personal experience of farm life and
work.
Even where such trained teachers and instructors are not
available all possible assistance should be given to the development of training
facilities on farms or estates where the operator is adequately qualified to
provide practical instruction.
In underdeveloped countries literacy programmes should
have a high priority. Vocational training should, in general, be preceded or
accompanied by general education including the study of basic subjects,
conforming to accepted standards in the country concerned. When vocational
training is given within the school framework, it should not only be preceded
but also be accompanied by general education.
Where possible, programmes of vocational training in
agriculture should include formal classroom instruction as well as related
general subjects such as rural social studies.
In determining the content of the training course,
account should be taken in particular of:
the persons to be trained and the level of skill to be
imparted;
the agrarian structure, the degree of development
reached in agriculture, and the type of agricultural production;
trends in the rural employment market and the degree of,
or need for, labour mobility;
the social life, customs, habits and outlook of the
agricultural community; and
relevant aspects of national policy in broad outline.
Where possible and appropriate, the vocational training
provided for the agricultural population should include training in
supplementary skills relating in particular to the making and repair of
agricultural tools, the maintenance and simple repair of agricultural machinery,
the processing of agricultural products, and the construction and maintenance of
farm buildings.
In areas of actual or potential underemployment,
consideration should be given, where possible and appropriate, to offering
courses in rural and other crafts to persons of both sexes, in order to provide
them with a means of supplementary or alternative employment.
Appropriate measures should be taken for achieving an
equal standard in the level of education in rural and urban areas and for a
common basis in that education. Teaching methods and, where appropriate,
curricula in rural primary schools, should take account of the needs of rural
areas and of the environment of rural children.
In order to give a sound, broadly based general
education, to impart an appreciation of nature and to develop manual facility
and the powers of observation, formal classroom instruction given in a system of
primary schooling should be supplemented, where possible, by practical courses
in the use of school gardens and in home crafts as a part of school work. This
practical instruction should not unduly affect the courses and programmes of
general education.
In the rural communities in underdeveloped areas, systems
of fundamental education should be used to impart, in a co-ordinated programme,
knowledge of improved techniques in agriculture and in such matters as rural
industries, sanitation, health and dietary practices, child care, food
preservation, housing, village organisation and communications. Special care
should be taken to impart suitable training to the weaker sections of the
agricultural population in underdeveloped countries, who practise primitive
methods of agriculture and have a very low standard of life, particularly tribal
people.
Where appropriate, and where specifically vocational
agricultural instruction is not provided in secondary schools, the agricultural
instruction given should be of a general nature. In rural areas, this
instruction should be adapted to national and local conditions. Where no
agricultural teaching is given, provision should be made for the gradual
introduction of such instruction in the curriculum of rural secondary schools.
This instruction should not unduly affect the courses and programmes of general
education.
Where possible, this instruction should be supplemented
by practical work on the school farm, on experimental farms or on other farms.
Such work should be limited to teaching needs.
Provision should be made for agricultural technical
schools giving training of adequate duration in farm skills, agricultural
production and marketing, farm operations and management, and other appropriate
subjects.
At the higher stages of development of a vocational
training programme provision should be made for:
schools or special divisions of schools open to persons
of either sex, giving training in certain branches of agriculture;
schools or special divisions of schools open to persons
of either sex, giving training to a special category or categories of farm
workers or in special types of skills required in agriculture;
schools or special divisions of schools giving training
in rural domestic economy.
Where possible and appropriate, agricultural technical
schools should have a farm attached for the purposes of relating teaching to
agricultural work and of giving a necessary amount of practical training. Where
this is not possible, or where it is desirable to supplement such training,
arrangements should be made for the necessary practical training on appropriate
farms or experimental stations, it being understood that such training should be
limited to that necessary for the instruction of the students.
In establishing agricultural technical schools,
consideration should be given:
particularly in countries of large farms and small
density of population, to the advantages which derive from the provision of
residential and semi-residential facilities;
in sufficiently literate communities, to the
organisation of correspondence courses and the use of the radio for remote farm
workers, where possible in conjunction with attendance at supplementary courses
at schools with residential facilities;
Short courses, seasonal and evening courses and mobile
courses should be considered as specially suitable:
for encouraging sons and daughters of small farmers and
farm workers who are employed on farm holdings to improve their professional and
general knowledge;
for instructing specialists or farmers and farm workers
in improved or newly discovered techniques;
for instructing particular categories of workers in
specialised skills and methods, such as the cultivation of a particular crop,
the care and feeding of animals, the maintenance and use of tools or machines,
general maintenance work on the farm, and the fight against plant and animal
diseases and pests.
Such courses should be timed in accordance with local
needs and should not be a substitute for longer courses where these are possible
and desirable.
Where necessary and appropriate, the public authorities,
other appropriate bodies, or a combination of both, should organise the
placement of trainees on selected agricultural units, particularly in order to
complete the training of prospective farm operators and especially in areas
where the standard of farming practice is relatively high; such training should
generally be preceded by an adequate general education and should be related to
the unit of agricultural operations characteristic of an area, whether this be
the village, the large estate or plantation, the co-operative farm or group
settlement, or the small or medium-sized holding.
The unit on which training is given should be
representative and selected with care, taking account, where appropriate, of the
possibility of using an outside farm rather than the home farm. Training on the
farm should, where possible, be supplemented by formal classroom instruction.
Extension services should be established and expanded to
the extent made possible by the level of development of each country, in order
to carry the results of scientific research to farmers in a practical way and to
bring the farmers' technical problems to the attention of the services concerned
for solution.
Farmers and farm organisations, including those of
employers and workers, should be encouraged to develop extension programmes of
their own, and, in any case, should be associated with the development and
utilisation of official programmes and similar educational activities.
Considering that in underdeveloped countries simple and
informal programmes of vocational training capable of expansion, both
geographically and in content, are appropriate, it should be recognised that
extension services have a particularly important part to play in the development
of these programmes and in the implementation of agricultural development plans.
The extension services should, as appropriate,
contribute along with other interested agencies to the development of programmes
for youth, the organisation of agricultural clubs for young persons and
programmes of home and community development.
When agriculture is suitably organised and agricultural
practices warrant it, consideration should be given to the provision of
apprenticeship schemes.
These schemes should be developed with particular
reference to the needs of special branches of agriculture, regions and
categories of workers, and carried out either at residential institutions or on
farms approved in respect of the qualifications and abilities of the instructor
or farmer.
Arrangements concerning instruction in the branch of
agriculture to which the apprentice aspires, the limitation of his tasks to
those useful for his training, the provision of equipment and any obligation to
attend training schools giving general and technical instruction, should be
approved by the competent authority or authorities.
The measures referred to in the preceding subparagraphs
should be taken by means of laws or regulations, decisions of public bodies
entrusted with the control of apprenticeship, collective agreements, a
combination of the above methods, or, failing these, by other appropriate
methods.
Representative organisations of employers and workers,
where they exist, should be closely associated, on a basis of complete equality,
with the elaboration, application in practice and supervision of the
apprenticeship scheme.
Apprenticeship should be open to suitably qualified
candidates who have shown a clear desire to enter agriculture and who have or
will have completed the period of obligatory schooling.
Admittance to apprenticeship and apprenticeship
programmes should be supervised by whatever machinery, statutory or otherwise,
in the field of labour, agriculture or education, is considered most appropriate
in the light of conditions existing in each country.
In determining the number of trainees to be placed,
consideration should be given to the number of experienced adult workers on the
farm concerned in the interests both of the trainees and of the adult workers.
Upon satisfactory completion of his apprenticeship the
trainee should be considered as a skilled worker and should be so certified by
the competent body.
The conditions of employment of apprentices, whether
prescribed by contract between the parties, collective agreement, legislation or
otherwise, should include a clear statement of the respective duties of farmer
and apprentice, the duration of the apprenticeship, the level of knowledge and
skill to be acquired to ensure a good standard of husbandry, and any obligation
there may be to attend training schools giving general and technical
instruction. The statement should also provide that the duties required of the
apprentice should be confined to those necessary for his training and that any
conflicts which develop should be submitted to the competent body for
settlement.
Minimum rates of remuneration, increase of remuneration,
hours of work, holidays, food and accommodation, insurance, and sickness and
accident benefit provisions for apprentices, should be determined by
legislation, by regulations issued by the competent authority, by arbitral award
or collective agreement, or by decision of special bodies entrusted with this
task.
Representative organisations of employers and workers,
where they exist, should be associated on an equal footing with the elaboration,
application and supervision of the conditions of employment of apprentices.
At lower levels of apprentice training an evaluation of
progress should be made, stating the work performed, the duration of the
apprenticeship and the level of skill reached generally and in particular types
of work; this evaluation should be supplemented, where appropriate, by practical
tests.
At higher levels of apprentice training or where the
programme is more developed, the satisfactory completion of apprenticeship
should be ascertained by the competent body. In this respect, consideration
should be given to a combination of practical and formal tests relating to
general agriculture and to the special branch of agriculture to which the
apprentice aspires.
Any programme of training in agriculture should include,
as a high priority, training of teachers and officials of services relating to
agriculture and subsidiary occupations; such teachers and officials should,
where possible, have personal experience of farm life and work.
This process of training should be accelerated, where
necessary, by such methods as:
the creation of training establishments of appropriate
types;
the establishment of village development centres and of
centres for demonstration and training;
the provision of special short courses of training for
graduates from higher agricultural institutions, such courses relating, where
necessary, to problems of teaching and administration as well as to the
technical content of their work, in order to prepare them better for giving
vocational instruction adapted to the needs of agriculture and taking account of
modern techniques.
In higher institutions agricultural teachers and
instructors should:
preferably have received university instruction or its
equivalent;
be enabled and encouraged to keep their knowledge up to
date by such means as refresher courses and sabbatical leave.
The teaching aids and materials used in the vocational
training programme should be prepared on the basis of the findings of research
institutions and of other scientific information, and provision should be made
for the systematic and orderly flow of adequate factual material to teachers and
students.
Since the teaching of agricultural subjects should be
given with particular reference to regional and local conditions and problems,
teaching aids and materials should be selected with regard to the economic
structure of the areas where the trainee will work.
When teaching materials and equipment are brought from
other countries and regions they should be adequately adapted to local needs.
Especially in the early stages of training, in cases
where there exists a group of countries with common characteristics and
problems, consideration should be given to developing standardised teaching
materials for such countries by direct consultation among them. In any case,
free exchange of teaching materials should be encouraged.
Audio-visual aids, while they should not be a substitute
for other teaching aids and methods, should, especially in communities where
illiteracy is high, be given a prominent place in training programmes. The
special advantages of the film-strip and slides should be borne in mind.
Organisations of farmers, farm workers (including trade
unions), farm women and farm youth, and other interested organisations, such as
co-operative societies, should play an important role in all phases of
agricultural training. Every encouragement should be offered them to take an
active interest in improving such training.
Responsibility for the training programmes should be
entrusted to the authority or authorities capable of obtaining the best results
and, in cases where the responsibility is entrusted to several authorities
jointly, measures for ensuring co-ordination of the training programmes should
be taken. Local authorities should collaborate in the development of the
training programmes. Close collaboration should be maintained with organisations
of employers and workers in agriculture and with other interested organisations,
where such exist.
A degree of co-ordination of private and public courses
should be encouraged so that:
a trainee makes orderly progress from one level to the
other;
subject to preserving the appropriate degree of
uniformity in the training programmes, provision is made for the needs of
different regions or branches of the occupation;
agricultural research institutions, extension services
and all training institutions may work in close co-operation.
The competent bodies should progressively elaborate
general standards, varying where necessary from one region to another, relating
to such matters as: entry requirements for training for the different branches
of agriculture; duration of training and length of courses; teaching material
and textbooks; qualifications of teachers and their status as regards salary and
working conditions; size of classes; curricula; examination requirements; and
conditions under which training may be considered completed. Appropriate
measures should be taken to consult representative organisations of farmers and
farm workers, and other interested organisations, where such exist, in the
formulation of these standards.
At all stages private endeavour in initiating and
administering training courses should be encouraged, and the application of the
standards should be left to recognised training institutions supervised, as
necessary and appropriate, by the appropriate bodies.
While local financial contributions to training
programmes are, in many places, called for, the public authorities, to the
extent considered appropriate and necessary, should also assist public and
private training programmes in such ways as: making available financial
contributions; contributing land, buildings, transport, equipment and teaching
material; contributing through scholarships or otherwise to the living expenses
or wages of trainees during the course of training, and making entry into
residential agricultural schools free of charge to appropriately qualified
trainees, especially those who cannot afford to pay for the training.
The public authorities, other appropriate bodies, or a
combination of both, should ensure that the vocational training programmes are
co-ordinated with other public activities relating to agriculture. In particular
they should ensure that the training programmes are established in the light of
the long-term employment and settlement opportunities open to prospective
agricultural workers, as determined, amongst other things, by the availability
of land, agricultural credit and markets.
The public authorities, other appropriate bodies, or a
combination of both, should take all necessary practical measures to facilitate
the placement of persons who have finished their training and to assist them in
finding suitable farms or farm employment which corresponds to their training
and skill.
The public authorities, other appropriate bodies, or a
combination of both, should develop methods of evaluating the effectiveness of
training programmes, for example in raising agricultural living standards and
levels of production, and in achieving the objectives specified in Paragraph 2,
and should take stock frequently of the progress achieved.
Where possible, especially among countries with similar
agricultural conditions, international exchanges of farmers and farm workers,
farm youth, agricultural teachers, research workers, experts and scientific
agricultural literature should be encouraged.
Where appropriate, international centres for research,
and extension and vocational training in agriculture should be promoted as well
as international meetings for agricultural research workers, extension agents
and teachers in agricultural schools.
