Teaching Problems in Vocational Education and Training - Literature review Example

Name: Task: Instructor: Date: Teaching Problems in Vocational Education and Training Introduction Vocational education and training (VET), commonly known as technical education, is the act of training individuals on how to perform manual activities that are not related to academics, but are completely related to a particular occupation. The people on training usually strive to develop knowledge of specific category of technology or techniques. Mainly, the idea behind vocational education emanates from the system of apprenticeship. For a long time now, vocational education has been focusing on particular trades that include welding and mechanics. On the other hand, vocational instructors offer instructions to learners usually on professions that do not need one to go for college education. In the same vein, some instructors work towards aiding people to update skills in various jobs. For instance, a vocational instructor may help a learner to understand how the latest computer software operates. Teachers in this field deal with people who have dropped out of school or those in need of improving their skills such as a technician. In the literature review that will follow, the focus will be on understanding teaching as problematic in vocational education and training. Since the introduction of vocational education and training, there have been a lot of problems facing it. Literature review According to Elly & Yvonne (2011), in their article on vocational education, teachers in vocational education and training may be having other problems but not when it comes to behavioral issues. This is mainly because the students, who are mature people, bring their experience in classroom and this makes teaching them satisfying and very rewarding. Additionally, the adults are usually on high motivation and they attend classes because it is a choice they have made. However, one of the major problems that educators in vocational education face is dealing with learners at different developmental stages that in most cases lack good skills of studying and personal confidence. For this reason, they need extra patience and attention as compared to other students (Elly & Yvonne 5). According to studies that have been done, out of every three teachers in vocational education, one of them works on part time basis. In order for the learning institutions to accommodate learners that are working or have families, they opt to offer lectures on weekends or during the night. These lectures range from 3 to 4 hours and there may be mini-sessions of one day until the semester is over (Law 23). In the same vein, some of the learners and vocational education instructors may be having several jobs on part time basis and assignments. Additionally, some of them may be having a full time employment apart from the part time job thus making their schedule hectic and working for long hours. For this reason, it becomes a problem for most learners to pay full concentration, while the teacher on the other hand may deliver low quality education owing to exhaustion (Perry & Sherlock 67). According to Gasskov (2006), the requirements in training vary in each country when it comes to vocational instructors. Basically, an instructor in this field requires owning a certificate or a license in order to attain full status in this profession. In most institutions of education, they require a doctoral degree or an instructor who have masters. This is what is required for one to lecture non-vocational courses. In that regard, many vocational instructors in community and junior colleges lacks a doctoral degree or masters but they mainly rely on their knowledge and experience. In other words, they rely on practical experience to teach. According to Elly & Yvonne (2011), for one to teach adult education, what is required is for an individual to have an acceptable methodology of working. For instance, before securing the adult teaching job, it is important for the person to provide the previous works. One of the biggest challenges for teachers in vocation education is the requirement in many countries where a teacher has to keep on updating skills in order to meet the requirements of certification, which usually vary. The instructors are expected to attend conferences and seminars in order to acquire the latest skills in their career. This poses a big challenge especially to the first timers. However, it has come as a relief to most teachers because some businesses are establishing consortiums that are offering training to instructors in community and junior colleges (Mela & Stanford University 167). Gasskov (2006) observes that teaching education vocation and training is becoming extremely difficult especially when it comes to matters of financing this type of education. According to studies in countries like United States and Australia, vocational education is the least funded. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to pay teachers in this profession some good salaries. If vocational teachers are not paid well, they lack morale to work and in the end, poor services are offered. The notion that vocational education is costly has led to the low funding (Perry & Sherlock 56). On the other hand, the teacher reforms that would ensure proper training in order to ensure quality services have not been taken with a lot of seriousness in many countries. In the same vein, there is no uniformity especially in paying of salaries. For this reason, vocational education in most countries that pay their teachers less are lagging behind with shortage of teachers while well paying nations have excess teaching staff. Law (2001) in his text ‘Vocational training and education: the lessons and beyond: a personal perspective’, pays close attention to challenges that face teaching vocational education and training in most parts of Europe. In their efforts to try and stabilize the economy during the global crisis that affected many countries, most of them considered to reduce their budgets in some sectors and vocational education was among the affected. For this reason, recruiting enough teachers to teach was a big problem. This affected the teaching in this field by a big margin. Instead of the government looking at vocational education as a way of bringing solution to the economic crisis through it’s upgrading, they focus on abolishing the system. Reports have indicated that there is much diversity in the entire Europe on how some nations perceive vocational education and training (Mela 89). Some researchers have highlighted major challenges facing education unions and teachers. In order to improve teaching in this field, the governments in each country have to take up their responsibility, improving the status of instructors, forming unions for teachers, and achieving esteem parity in academic qualifications. Perceiving vocational education as the solution to economic challenges will help it to grow further. In their education journal, Barnett & Ryan (2004), they closely look at another problematic issue that faces teaching vocational education. In most school programs that offer vocational education, the learning experience and quality of education in most institutions has raised eye brows. Reports reveal that there exists cultural differences and mistrust between the stakeholders in this field. This is especially between the representatives from industries and school educators as well as within the system of education. According to these two, schools strive to offer vocational subjects that they have designed on their own provided it is in line with the assessment and curriculum as required by the certification bodies. However, a lot of pressure has been put for vocational training to have more than a high school certificate but they should also be on the same level with adult vocational training (Barnett & Ryan 3). In the same vein, the Australian vocation education is under fire if what is happening in employment industries is anything to go by. In most cases, the employers are rejecting the certification that is being offered to confirm the vocational subjects that a learner has taken terming them insufficient. Most of these employers fail to understand that it is difficult to list the complaints from industries to integrate them in the learning program. In order to get recognition, many institutions are required to get acceptance of registered training organizations (RTOs) that the Australian government offer (Barnett & Ryan 3). For this reason, many schools are finding it difficult to meet these standards thus producing learners who cannot secure employment in the industries. Another big problem that teaching vocational education in Australia is facing is attaining mathematical skills that is one of the requirements in the job industry. Most schools are following the requirements in the job markets instead of thinking on how to solve economic problems that have hit the world (Barnett & Ryan 4). According to Elly & Yvonne (2011), teaching vocational education has become problematic due to the notion that it is meant for students who have least academic qualifications. While many people might think that vocational education and training is meant for those people who failed in their secondary education, it is far from the needs of the employment sector that needs elites and intelligent work force. According to study that was done in Australia, it was revealed that vocational education should be the last thing for individuals who scored least grades in their previous level of education (Barnett & Ryan 5). When learners with lower grades are taken for training, teachers often experience hard time while trying to help these types of learners to grasp the concept. Additionally, expanding options in schools is not necessary because it cannot enhance opportunities of learners. According to reliable evidence that has been collected, a choice of subjects in schools is very important and helpful for later employment in one’s life, especially mathematics. This becomes a major problem in the teaching of vocational education and training. According to Perry & Sherlock (2008), vocational education has been facing a problem when it comes to the learning outcomes of various individuals. The concepts that individuals learn in school are very vital because they are reflected in the job market. Additionally, the problem comes because teachers in vocational education have an upper hand in terms of controlling what a learner should know, but they have no idea of what they meet in the job market. For this reason, a teacher may deliver something that does not go hand in hand with what is needed in the market. In regard to vocational education, the most used method of testing their academic outcome is when it comes to the application of the gained knowledge in a specific job. According to Law (2001), vocational education in most countries aim at giving learners qualifications to proceed to higher learning institutions instead of preparing them for the jobs in the market. Given that most learners in this category are average learners, a problem sets is when teachers are trying to force them to get grades that can take them to the university. In other words, they get frustrated because they are trying to achieve what is not within their reach. Vocational education and training is a complex system that comes with a number of goals and only exists within a complex society. With that in mind, a problem of teaching the same arises if there is no performance assessment, actions, and accountability governing it. In most cases, problems have always emanated from the replacement of long-term training with short-term training that is cheap to maintain. Teaching becomes a problem because even the time allocated to cover a certain course is limited (Gasskov 53). According to ILO (2010), the skills problem has continued posing a big problem to the teaching of vocational education. In most cases, it is difficult for educators in this field to balance the skills with the labor market demand. As usual, the world has witnessed a lot of changes in technology and economy since 80s thus the vocational education has been unable to respond to these changes due to the little or no orientation that this education system offers (ILO 18). The biggest problem is that, there is an escalation of skilled labor demand that has been heavily influenced by globalization, technological changes, work organization, development of new policies, and the change to an economy with low carbon. Additionally, the recent global financial crisis and subsequent recession has also put vocational education and training in the picture. With this kind of environment, experts contend with one thing that there is need for different personal skills. The vocational teaching of vocational education has become complex due to the incorporation of several generic skills that include planning precisely, logical thinking, being innovative and creative, and anticipating difficulties (ILO 18). In other words, vocational training is expected to live to the demands in the society. To many employers in the industries, they seem to contend that the teaching of vocational education is problematic. The training that is being offered is more traditional oriented and technical whereas employers are looking for competent people, who have communication ability, can work as a team, who have the ability to solve problems in addition to package, and technical skills. However, in countries across the globe, a good number of skills that are gained through vocational training are very shallow in terms of scope and they lack context in overall (ILO 18). The kind of teaching that is being offered in vocational training has widely been blamed for handicapping energetic youths especially in getting a head start throughout their career. If the vocational training is to become flexible, and respond to the demand of skills required, there has to be specific incentives in the system of training for the key players. According to Elly & Yvonne (2011), the materials for teaching and training in vocational education are irrelevant to the needs of the skills required and are mostly old fashioned. In most cases, the material for both training and teaching have little relevance to what the learners are likely to meet when they are working on the field after they are out of technical and vocational colleges. The approach that targets the labor market would rely much on business and real work, at the expense of vocational training. Instead of learners being educated about the labor market on individual basis, team approach would go a long way to ensure that students discuss that which appears difficult to them. Especially in developing nations, it is unfortunate that vocational teaching and training is equated to normal lecturing. This is a very wrong approach bearing in mind that one is being prepared for a lifetime job where there is solving of new problems and job skills are required. Conclusion Since the introduction of vocational education and training, there have been a lot of problems facing it. The key stakeholders in regard to vocational education and training include colleges, the government, and the employers. Some of the problems facing this sector include irrelevant teaching and training materials that do not conform to the needs in the labor market. In some countries, educators in vocational training are interested with students furthering their education to the university instead of acquiring practical skills that will help them in the field while working. In most developing nations, vocational education is literally offered like normal lectures instead of striving to equip learners with practical skills. In order to bring to an end the many problems facing teaching vocational education and training, educators, government, and employers must come together and devise a system that is more practical in terms of addressing problems at place of work and relevant to the growing technology. Works cited: Barnett, Kate & Ryan, Robin. Vocational education and training in Australian schools: issues for practitioners. International education journal, ERC2004 Special Issue, 2005, 5(5), 89-104 Elly, De Bruijn & Yvonne, Leeman. Authentic and self directed learning in vocational education: Challenges to vocational educators. Journal for Teaching & Teacher Education, May2011, Vol. 27 Issue 4, p694-702, Gasskov, Vladimir. Vocational education and training institutions: a management handbook and CD-ROM. International Labour Organization, 2006 International Labor Organization. Teachers and Trainers for the future: Technical and Vocational education and training in a changing world. GDFVET-R 2010-08-003 4-1 Law, Song. Vocational training and education: the lessons and beyond : a personal perspective. Institute of Technical Education, 2001 Mela, Maham & Stanford University. School of Education. Vocational training and education: their relationship to the productivity of womwen in rural Pakistan. Stanford University, 2005 Perry, Nicky & Sherlock, David. Quality Improvement in Adult Vocational Education and Training: Transforming Skills for the Global Economy. Kogan Page Publishers, 2008 Read More