COUNTRY PAPER: JAMAICA

Prepared for the Regional Technical Workshop "Competency-based Curriculum Design "
TVET Council, Barbados - Ministry of Labour and Social Security,
Barbados, 19 to 23 November 2001

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT - JAMAICA

The structure and function of the education system in Jamaica is a very interesting one. Our greatest challenge has been how to create a TVET system that will continue to support our move from a plantation society to a modern technologically based society. The traditional education and training system was engineered to suit a colonial plantation economy and society.

This system:

• Was elitist and exclusionary
• Relied on rote learning and recitation
• Depended on corporal punishment as a means of ensuring discipline, in order to enforce conformity
• Promoted a dichotomy between Vocational Career Education and General Education

This traditional education and training system was effectively engineered to produce citizens/workers who were primarily:

• Obedient and dependent on instructions.
• Seen as a cheap source of labour.
• Accepting of the 'status quo'.
• Good "colonial subjects" and not "citizens. They had no sense of stake holding in the society or the economy.
• Excellent imitators, but not innovators or leaders.
• Resistant to change.
• Unresponsive to market demands.
• Uncompetitive as a workforce.

We have had to change the character of our education system because we realize that as a nation we operate in a globally competitive environment; with a current economic climate of trade liberalization and rapid technological progress and where competition among highly skilled countries appears to be a predominant feature. Thus, constant training, retraining, lifelong learning and the adaptability of workers, business and industry to new market opportunities are essential features of long-term success. Today's worker is therefore required to be more rounded than his/her traditional counterpart and responsive to the changing demands of his/her environment. He/She should be a proactive team player, working either with fellow employees or as an own account provider of goods or services to the customers. He/She is expected to possess team building skills, good communication, problem-solving and decision-making skills to enhance his/her specialized technical expertise.

In order for Jamaica to become more competitive in the global market place we have had to reposition and refocus our education and training systems so as to address the challenges spawned by this new and ever-changing environment. In response to this challenge, in 1982 the HEART Act was passed which established the Human Employment And Resource Training Trust (HEART Trust). An amendment to the HEART Act in 1991 expanded the responsibility of the Trust to enable it to function as the National Training Agency thus underscoring the Trust' s role as co-coordinator of the Jamaican TVET system. The amended act also established the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) in 1994. This entity is legally authorized to accredit training programmes and institutions, to certify trainees and vocational instructors and to assess procedures for TVET.

The mandate of the HEART Trust/NTA is "to enable the provision oftechnical and vocational education and training in both the public and private sectors so as to produce and sustain a competitive workforce consistent with the need for economic growth and development and to promote quality, relevance, efficiency and equity in the training system".

 

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