The Uganda Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council recently approved 17 new competence-based National Technician Diploma curricula, to align training with real job market demands.
The approved curricula include mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering, as well as ICT and vocational training.
Dr Wilfred Nahamya (PhD) , the deputy executive secretary in charge of TVET assessment at Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board (UVTAB), talked to Daily Monitor about the development in the TVET education sector.
What is the Mandate of UVTAB?
UVTAB has two major mandates. One of the key mandates is the development of the curriculum.
This used to be done by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) but after the TVET Act came into force, it is now the mandate of UVTAB to develop the curriculum in consultation with sector skills expert committees of the TVET Council, which has teams of experts according to different sectors such as agriculture, hospitality and tourism, construction and manufacturing among others.
This curriculum is employer-led because it is the people in the hotel industry, for example, who should guide us on what type of chef, waitress we should produce.
It should be National Water and Sewerage Corporation taking the lead in the training of a plumber.
In the past, the way the industry was involved was very limited. Surveys showed that there were gaps across the range of products the sector was producing.
The graduates of TVET were lacking due to a skills gap. That is why we now develop and review curriculum, while making the employer take the lead.
For example, we shouldn’t make the curriculum for Journalism and Media Studies without involving the media players.
And what is UVTAB’S other mandate?
The other key function is UVTAB is assessment and certification of the skills. When we started the board last year, one of the priority areas was that of developing the curriculum.
At first, certain things were not in place. The sector skills of expert committees and the qualifications framework were not yet in place but they are now in place by the TVET Council. We now embarked on the curriculum.
The TVET Act has about six areas. We have Technology Education and Training, Agricultural Education and Training, Business Education and Training, Home Science Education and Training, and Sports Science Education and Training.
Technology Education and Training is the one which involves the traditional engineering programmes, construction, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications and other areas of Information Communications Technology( ICT) and so on.
Last week the TVET council approved new programmes. All the 17 programmes that were approved by the TVET Council are science based.
Why focus on science programmes?
We started with those because they were a bit lacking and we felt that with changing technology and the rate at which industrial changes are taking place, we needed to address the gaps as fast as yesterday.
But also most importantly, some of the curricula were due for review and once they are due for review, it is better you prioritise that. Also, some of them were so broad in the way that they could not bring out competencies.
We realised there was a need to break down civil engineering in terms of construction, roads and bridges. In the new curriculum. They are a bit broken but deliberate.
Is this the first time UVTAB is presenting programmes to the TVET Council for approval since the TVET law came into play?
Yes, it is the first of its kind. Whereas we developed a curriculum, we don’t approve. It is the TVET Council that approves.
So, it was the first load to be approved and on these things, what we need to bring out to our readers is that all students who are going to enrol this year at Diploma level are obliged to take on the new curriculum. We expect that all first years for Diploma are expected to take on the new programmes as published.
We have put the list of the programmes on our website and also published them in the print media.
From Monday (this week), we are going to orient all the instructors and principals to ensure that they adhere and guide that the institutions should admit students beginning next week and start in a staggered opening not less than October 7, according to a circular released by the Ministry of Education and Sports.
Why target institutions offering Diplomas?
Universities are not many. You may recall that most of them got off from Diploma but there are some few that are still teaching diploma programmes.
Once you are a university and you teach diploma, you must subject it to the national assessment done by UVTAB.
What steps do you take while designing the programmes?
Curriculum development has several steps and there are certain standards you have to follow.
You must start with needs assessment and in everything you do , you must do with sector expert committees.
We want the industry to take the lead. They help in the development of occupational standards for different programmes. This helps us determine competencies that students require.
We also do tracer studies where we follow up graduates to establish whether they are placed where they are supposed to be and doing the work they studied and identify gaps. We call it labour market intelligence with the sector expert committees.
After that we subject the curriculum to key stakeholders for validation. The board discusses it and submits to TVET Council which also subjects the curriculum to various experts. Once approved, the institutions start teaching them. We are convinced that this curriculum is very good.
We have seen secondary schools struggle to implement the Competence-Based Curriculum in terms of materials and skills gap.
How prepared are TVET institutions and why does TVET matter?
The curriculum is more hands-on because we want to have graduates who can perform as expected by the industry.
We are calling upon institutions to ensure they become a bit more innovative and use some of the local materials during the training to minimise cost.
There is always resistance to change; people are sceptical and some percentage want to take it as the last resort.
But more people are appreciating that there are chances of getting jobs in vocational training and education. That is where you have many chances of self employment in the informal sector.
Apart from the 17 programmes that were recently approved, are there any other programmes that were approved?
The first phase has 17 in Technology Education and Training but there are also programmes under Business Education and Training. They have also been approved.
In Business Education and Training, the major issue was that there was a lot of duplication because under the former law, the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act and then the NCDC Act were given a mandate to develop curriculum. It was kind of a mix.
You would find Uganda Colleges of Commerce having a programme called accounting and finance but at Management Training and Advisory Centre (MTAC), they are calling it accounting.
You go to the ones developed by NCDC, they call it Diploma in Finance but when you go into the details, it is basically saying the same. Duplication was in several areas.
In Secretarial Science, others were calling it a Diploma in Secretarial and Office Practice, others were calling it Diploma in Secretarial and Information Management. There were about four of them.
We have harmonised them and streamlined them but most importantly, making them competence-based. It is a bit more practical than theory. We want to make it more hands on. We have worked on the Diplomas in Business Education, about 12 of them have been approved by the TVET Council.
We also have one under Home Sciences which has been approved that is, Hotel and Institutional Catering and others are also in the line.
Why did the Board prioritise diploma programmes?
We prioritised diplomas because the students were due to start classes. Certificate students will start in February next year and by that time, we should have moved there.
How have you ensured that TVET education is inclusive ?
We have a fully fledged unit of special needs. From the curriculum and assessment, we supported students with special needs with interpreters, get people to assist them if they are physically handicapped and transcribe or print in large print and provide Braille for the visually-impaired.
We are supporting them in most of the areas but most important in our curriculum, we provide some exemptions. If a student doesn’t have hands , for example, they may not be able to draw.
Students with special needs can even do a computer exam but you can pull out those questions that may require them to do certain things which they are unable to do.
How is their performance?
On average, they have been doing well because of that support. Of course they will not go without challenges that are obvious but generally, they are doing programmes that we thought they would not do.
Why is it critical for players, including those the informal sector to be certified ?
We need to ask them to come for certification to increase their employability.
Somebody will not trust you as a builder when you don’t have anything to show even when you know how to build. The jobs are getting limited in our traditional areas and that is why we must develop the private sector.
Utility
Procedure.
Curriculum development has several steps and there are certain standards you have to follow. You must start with needs assessment and in everything you do , you must do with sector expert committees?
– Dr Wilfred Nahamya, the deputy executive secretary in charge of TVET assessment
the tvet act
The Uganda Vocational and Technical Assessment Board also mandates that all private training institutions and professional trainers must be officially licensed and accredited.
The TVET Act requires all providers to hold a valid license from the TVET Council before they can legally operate as recognised assessment centers or present trainees for national qualifications.