Training, certification key

Paulette Dunn-Smith, Contributor

Last week, we looked at benchmarking best practices and adapting or adopting those practices as a means of improving the production process. This week, we take a look at how lifelong learning and certification within the context of an education and training framework can improve workforce productivity.

A modern economy is built on a society with strengths in knowledge, skills, interests, and abilities of its people in a variety of occupational areas.

A modern Jamaican economy can also be built if our workforce is trained and certified to global standards (benchmarking).

Both the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation agree that education and training of a high quality can act as powerful tools in improving the general social and economic conditions of countries.

Training and certification throughout life, and continuous learning by the workforce is essential if we are to create and maintain competitiveness in a world of changing products and technology.

Lifelong learning is understood as a training activity (formal and informal) that takes place throughout a person's entire life. It is aimed at improving the knowledge, skills, and competencies from personal, social, and working perspectives.

In order to facilitate and recognise lifelong learning, many countries have developed an education and training qualifications framework (ETQF). These countries include Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Ireland, South Africa, and Singapore. The framework seeks to register and accommodate, using a number of levels, every single education and training entity, and the awards that are granted in the country. By doing so, education and training-delivery entities are regulated and must adhere to a particular standard of operating.

Gaining credits

Individuals who are certified, whether through formal or informal means, gain credits and awards (certificates, diplomas, etc) that are recognised by educators and employers in the country. These credits and awards can then be used to gain entry into the world of work, or for entry into higher- and tertiary-level educational institutions.

In Jamaica and in the wider Caribbean, the national training agencies have agreed to a regional vocational-qualification framework to enable the award of national vocational qualifications, and the Caribbean vocational qualifications in order to facilitate the movement of skilled workers across CARICOM.

However, this is only a subsystem of a wider education and training qualifications framework which is a requirement for recognising formal and informal learning in the workplace. The framework then becomes the plank on which standards and qualifications, agreed to by education and training stakeholders throughout the country, are registered. It provides that comprehensive, nationally consistent, yet flexible framework for all awards and qualifications in the education and training system to be registered.

The development and implementation of an ETQF is one of the key planks on which workforce productivity can be improved, as it allows for the continuous training, retraining, upgrading, and certification of the labour force so that it maintains currency and global competitiveness.

Institutional linkages

The ETQF recognises that the school sector, the vocational education and training sector, and the tertiary sector all have different industry and institutional linkages. The ETQF connects and combines these sectors into a single national framework. This framework will be a catalyst in enabling the transformation of education and training in Jamaica.

Individuals who have "portable" competencies, that is the knowledge, the skills, and the attitudes required for a particular job, will definitely have the edge over someone who does not possess those competencies. Portability then comes in the form of a qualification or certificate which will enable the holder to make use of opportunities, and to cope with changing technologies and products. When these strategies form part of the permanent fixture of the workforce strategies, there is no question that we will be able to attract high-end local and overseas investments, increase productivity, and in turn, provide good wages for Jamaicans.

• Benefits of the ETQF

The benefits of an education and qualifications framework are numerous. By design, it:

1. (a) Combines education and training into a single framework, and brings together separate education and training entities into a single national system;
2. (b) Makes it easier for learners to enter the education and training system, and to move and progress horizontally and vertically within it;
3. (c) Improves the quality of education and training in Jamaica as it is built on high-quality standards;
4. (d) Facilitates the mapping and inclusion of awards such as CXCs, NVQs/CVQs, certificates, diplomas, degrees, etc, within the education and training system, and promotes the mobility of labour;
5. (e) Enables employers to understand qualifications which prospective employees might have, and where they fit into the overall education system;
6. (f) Increases transparency and improves the understanding of the education and training system and its parts;
7. (g) Expands access to learning and work opportunities for all;
8. (h) Promotes access, transfer, and progression into, within, and among programmes of learning;
9. (i) Opens up learning and work opportunities for those who require a second chance to re-enter the formal education system or to enter the world of work;
10. (j) Enables learners to develop to their full potential and thereby supports the human, social, and economic development of the country as a whole through lifelong learning.