Vocational and Professional Practice and the Needs of Older Workers - Personal Statement Example

Download the original attachment Topic: The demands and contemporary requirements of my vocational or professional practice and the needs of older workers Introduction Educationists argue that most workers across all fields are often trapped in a conflicting discourse about work and remaining competent throughout their careers. Workers have lacked support from most governments. The changing nature of vocational practices calls for government support in reinstating teachers’ abilities, efficiencies and competencies in delivering their services. Governments have failed to provide social and cultural support to teaching professionals who continue to mature and grow old in the field (Disney, & Hawkes, 2003). Teachers ought to maintain their competence and viability as workers by indulging in their working life. This aspect differs with age hence it is imperative for the government and school administrations to ensure that older workers in the profession are given opportunity to enact individual epistemology premised on very fundamental manifestation positions. This paper argues that workers who have been in the field are driven by intentionality and personal interests to remaining competent in the learning process. Through the study of Education in Saudi Arabia, the paper focuses on critical reflection of the older teaching professionals basing this on the centrality of personal agency and identity (Leuven, 2000). Current and Transforming Work Requirements In the realm of effective production and the ever growing demand for better educational services which have characterized the modern days, the situation calls for output standardization and customized production. Teaching practice has also changed significantly over time which calls for better ways of executing educational curriculum. This should also be done with the view of meeting market demand. For instance, teaching is a profession which calls for constant training to enhance effective delivery of services and the covering of current affairs. The current trend in the teaching field is that of introduction of new systems of service delivery. This has been prompted by the need of various governments to solve the current crisis facing educational practices. Thus, the ministry of education of any country should device a way out to support various changes pertaining to education and the need to finding solutions to the current problems. To achieve this, the ministry should provide opportunities for furthering education and promotion to its workers. Teachers require, as motivational incentives, better pay, opportunities to develop further in their profession and promotion (Fenwick, 2002). The spread of modern technologies in developing countries has led to increased demand for skilled teachers and subordinate staff. Young people are not effective enough due to the fact that most of them work when they have not acquired basic skills that are required as per the education system. In the modern days, students are completing primary and post-primary education schools before they fully develop relevant skills and knowledge which allow them to adapt to changes in the labour market (Fenwick, 2002).       Teaching practice, teachers’ education on quality and professionalism are issues which require contemporary strategies due to environmental settings which are characterized by transformed social conditions. These issues are quite prominent where there is increased demand on education quality. Teachers’ service delivery is subject of concern in education systems the world over. It is imperative to point out that teaching professionalism has been engulfed by government policies on education and knowledge. In the mid nineteenth century, Saudi Arabian government was not much concerned with the education system hence cultivation of quality teachers was not prioritized (Fenwick, 2002).       According to researches conducted by early educationists, many teachers and other educational workers have little or no access to basic practical information in Saudi Arabia.  Teachers and educationists rely on observation and empirical ways experienced through their individual teaching success and failures. In the last decade, the government has taken important steps towards meeting education needs of the teaching profession. Remarkably, the government has not progressed much in meeting these education needs. Currently, teaching qualifications differ from region to region within the country. This is associated with the unequal distribution of advanced technological services such as internet connectivity and lack of international information for development of policies in some regions (Fenwick, 2002).       The development of modern education in Saudi Arabia has been faced by many challenges. These challenges have roots in the country’s leadership which preferred conventional religious education to modern education. Poor educational policies have undermined the growth of modern education and the products of the system. For instance, the poor educational system has led to only a small number of students accessing higher education and poor socialization in the region. The denial of female education has led to no or few women teachers in the region. However, the changes in the system of governance and on the education policies have allowed females to access educational facilities and thus increase the number of females in the teaching profession (Fenwick, 2002).       The teaching profession is calling for much attention as the curriculum followed is wanting and it does not fully address the demands of the job market. This has led to some few families, especially the Hijazi, to dominate in the administrative positions. These families send their children to foreign universities, and on returning home these children capture top administrative positions owing to their competence in these jobs. The home-based university students are considered half-baked as the education they are getting is insufficient to allow their serving in top positions of leadership or governance (Fenwick, 2002).       The changing paradigm of education increases demand on teachers and on the quality of educational services. The increasing demand on quality of teachers’ services is attributed to socio-cultural context changes in the Saudi Arabian societies. This aspect is reflected in various fields such as pedagogy, psychology, sociology and philosophy among others. The concepts of learning in the society have been featured in a great extent in social sciences all over the world. These concepts emphasize cultural and social values of education where learning process is considered a resource of prosperity in the society (Bernhardt, 2000).       Teachers in these local institutions were never given proper packages to allow their growth and delivery of services meeting the current demand. The lack of policies on worker-growth through training, which imparts one with more knowledge and skills on the job, has led to teaching of syllabus which is not serving the immediate problems faced by the nation. In the line of executing their duties, workers get to learn a great deal about their respective roles. However, the rapid changes in technology led to the revision of educational policies. Another challenge facing the teaching profession was its popularity among the natives. Since the inception of modern education, the teaching profession has been shunned by many for its poor public picture. Many young graduate Saudi’s engaged in contracts and accessed government loans to set up small factories and thus avoiding the teaching profession which was not well paying. However, vocational training gained popularity as foreign teachers were employed in the gulf region and thus drawing more Saudi Arabians into administrative and teaching professions (Bernhardt, 2000).       The introduction of computers to aid in teaching requires that every teacher be conversant with the use of computers. Computers are handy in the processing and delivery of information. This allows ease of handling and storage of otherwise bulky teaching materials and records. However, the use of these computers requires specialists. This brings forth the issue of vocational training for teachers in making them competent in their work.       The introduction of new syllabus and policies on education requires that teachers are allowed to receive relevant training. This will enable them understand the new syllabus in addition to gaining knowledge on the expectations required of them by the ministry of education. Training is essential in worker promotion. Teachers who have a longer service in the field and have undertaken vocational training may be rewarded by giving them promotions. This is a motivational incentive (Giddens, 2003).  Key Considerations for Maintaining and Developing Professional Practice for Older Worker       The experience posed by older workers is essential in the delivery of services and in efficiency of production. Experience earns teachers the power to handle various issues with diligence and caution (Giruad, 2002).       VET provisions are very vital to educational practices in that they enhance creation of more flexible and responsive learning methods and procedures which are key development priority in Saudi Arabia. The way teachers approach teaching activities should be consistent with the learning concepts and researches recently done by educationists around the world. Flexible delivery which is aimed at retaining students puts in approaching, reading and matching concepts. These affects access, choice of subjects and assessment of the subjects by their teachers. Older workers should be exposed to Vocational Educational programs so that they can develop skills that are very essential in the ever changing learning environment (Disney, & Hawkes, 2003).       VET programs are obviously central to development of more skills and capabilities that are aimed at enabling older teachers deliver their services effectively and efficiently. Older workers constitute qualified and adaptable labour force which should be supported to acquire knowledge driven by changes in the world. Through VET programs, learning institutions can help older teachers to build mental capacity which enables them to adapt to different perceptions towards education in the ever changing environment. In addition, through these programs, higher learning institutions can strengthen institutional capacities which they can use to manipulate information and skills development for older workers (Giruad, 2002).       Guidance and counselling are very necessary in all learning institutions. These aspects are undergoing gradual changes hence resulting to complex demands from the vocational practitioners in both the society and the learning institutions. It is imperative to note that teachers working environment is changing and the students are becoming diverse. Guidance practice is becoming more complex as it involves new areas such as validation of informal learning processes and accreditation of prior learning. Through VET programs on guidance and counselling services, old workers are imparted relevant skills that are necessary in the learning environment. Older workers can be trained to develop and maintain guidance skills that are essential in contributing towards development of high quality career in learning institutions. They should be well acquainted with the relevant initiatives and institutional guidance framework for a life long learning. VET programs that entail guiding and counselling practices are very important in developing older qualified personnel who can further country’s strategic aims affecting the education system. These programs train workers to develop skills that contribute to a wide range of student’s needs through intensive personalized support. They should be trained to operate through devolved networks. The training structures should permit quality private guiding and counselling decisions so as to support the changing needs of the students in the learning environment. VET provisions enable the old workers and teachers in learning institutions to access such guiding and counselling programs on a lifelong basis. This ensures continuous serving of the needs of individuals and the wider society. VET provisions emphasize that career development involves particular guidance approaches in the learning institutions. The main focus of VET provisions is the training of the workers on the current principles affecting guidance practitioners so that they can develop the knowledge, skills and wider competencies that are required of them when delivering services. Guidance training routes should be carried out while reflecting national policies and priorities.       Teacher participation in VET provisions is quite healthy because it enables them to acquire very important skills that are essential in the learning environment. Vocational Educational Training calls for teachers to participate in the learning process as they are taught relevant skills that affect the learning processes. The government of Saudi Arabia should adopt VET provisions which require teachers to participate so that they can follow structured programs that are aimed at inculcating more knowledge about various aspects that are constantly changing in the society. It should cover a wide arrange procedural aspects of their teaching profession which are regarded as proxy in their career development. Participation in the Vocational Educational Training programs enables older teachers to acquire student- interaction skills. According to Archer (p. 130) changes in economic and social trends have forced learning institutions to introduce national qualification frameworks that are based on outcomes. These institutions differentiate the learning needs of different individuals. Participation is regarded as important in shaping teaching abilities of the old teachers. Participation policies should be given recognition by VET provisions used in learning institutions. VET provisions, through participation policies should equip old workers to handle rapid technological and structural changes in the institutions and the society at large.       In the article, “work, change and older workers”, it is clearly pointed out that there are the constant changes occurring in the working environment which are calling for contemporary work requirements. These changes include transformations in the interaction process between different parties that constitute work and practices. The task of developing competence in the teaching profession can be achieved when the teaching practitioners engage and negotiate with diverse modern ways of working. It is important for the Saudi Arabian government to implement ongoing learning processes throughout the working life of teaching professionals.       The issue that new learning is difficult to execute in older workforce is a contemporary issue which has been explicitly discussed under studies of language acquisition. Under these studies, it is clear that the malleability of cognitive capacities and human structures of the older teaching staff or any other group of workers does not allow multiple language development to occur very easily. Vocational Education Training is very necessary due to turbulent requirements and changes that are occurring in the society. Processes in the learning institutions are constantly changing and these are associated with the type of work available, requirements or specifications of that particular work and the individual accessibility of work in the society. Changes in technology have led to changes in the working process across all industries in the global economy. This has affected both production and service industries. Teaching practice is subject to technological changes and needs evolution. Human needs are becoming diverse and they are quite different from those of earlier times (Baltes, & Staudinger, 2000).       The issue that older teachers should remain competent throughout their working lives has been best analyzed through personal capabilities. Pedagogy theories postulate that maturation processes are useful in building more knowledge and necessary competence and capacities of younger workers during the human development process. This implies that older people or workers who have already matured experience inevitably decline in the range of human activities such as speed at which an individual reacts and the degree of memory engagement among other processes. Vocational Education Training provisions are very useful because they enable older workers who have valuable knowledge to be active hence counteracts the decline in the human activity and how an individual reacts. Lifelong learning encourages workers to consistently explore new things (Baltes, & Staudinger, 2000).   Conclusion       Older professionals are caught in a set of incongruities in maintaining their professional competence throughout their working lives. Teachers who are over 45 years of age are highly valued for their reliability, self management, expertise and experience. This contradicts with the behaviour of most employers in the global economy who have the tendency of employing younger individuals. Most employers in Saudi Arabia prefer younger people due to the belief that they are still active and energetic. It is important to incorporate the wealth of knowledge in older workers especially in the teaching profession. As discussed above, the older teachers are more effective than those of the younger generation. This aspect does not coincide with what is currently happening in Saudi Arabia and other countries around the world since most of them favour the youth.        Many old workers in most countries are left out in decision making and other important activities in the place of work. Most learning institutions do not provide support and never meet the demands of this aging population because of various limitations. It is therefore imperative for the Saudi Arabian government to reinstate this group of workers in the working environment and introduce Vocational Educational Training which can assist them to remain relevant and to develop modern skills (Archer, 2000). References Archer, M. (2000). Being human: The problem of agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 123-145. Baltes, P. & Staudinger, M. (2000). Interactive mind in lifespan perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1-35. Bernhardt, A. (2000). “The Future of Low-Wage Jobs.” Institute of education and the economy working paper, (12), 12-34. Bringing Work into Organizational Studies.” Administrative science quarterly, 41(2), 405-450. Disney, R. & Hawkes, D. (2003). Declining employment of older workers: Britain turned the corner? London: Institute for Fiscal Studies, 120-135. Evidence from Saudi Arabia. Journal of educational training and employment dynamics, 12(2), 120-134. Fenwick, T. (2002). Lady: Women Learning, Negotiating Subjectivity in Educational System. International journal of lifelong education, 21(2), 162-177. Giddens, A. (2003). Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press, 231-256. Goodnow, J. (2003). The Socialization of Cognition: What is involved? Cultural psychology, 12(1), 134-146. Grubb, N. (2001). Working in the middle: strengthening education and training for the mid-skilled labor force. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 136-176. Hodkinson, P. (2002). Significance of workplace biography in workplace learning. Studies in the Education of Adults, 12-45. Lave, J. (2005). Situated learning - legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 32-56. Leuven, E. (2000). The demand and supply of work related training. Research in Labour Economics, 18(2), 23-58. Read More