TVET teacher education programme

Programme description

Title: TVET teacher education Programme
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Laos
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Education and Sports
Overall term: 2012 to 2016

Context

The development of a market economy in Laos is being occurring alongside stable economic growth. However, a shortage of skilled workers is hampering the country’s continued economic development. Against the backdrop of the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, the Lao Government is therefore keen to develop a highly skilled labour force by improving the quality of vocational education in the country.

Two factors are mainly responsible for the shortage of skilled workers. Firstly, the country’s technical vocational education and training (TVET) sector has a bad image due to its irrelevance in terms of employers’ needs. As a result, increasing numbers of young Laotians are choosing to pursue academic education. At the same time, the curricula of the 22 public vocational schools countrywide that are supervised by the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports are often too theory-based, and the teachers lack essential technical and educational skills. There is also a shortage of good quality training courses for managerial staff that would enable them to run the vocational schools properly.

The lack of appropriate qualifications on the part of vocational teachers is largely due to the ineffective nature of teacher training, which fails to meet international quality standards for practical, needs-based vocational education and training.

Objective

Education and training for vocational school teachers have improved in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

Approach

The GIZ programme is using the following measures to support the improvement of vocational school teaching in Laos.

• Provision of advice to institutions under the Ministry of Education and Sports to increase the quality and availability of training for vocational teachers. The most relevant institutions are the Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI), and the Vocational Teacher Education Department (VTED) at the Faculty of Engineering. Priority areas include the development of a regulatory framework, adapting academic regulations, working out new standards, reviewing curricula and establishing appropriate monitoring processes.

• Promotion of partnerships with the private sector, and with other international and regional projects in the vocational training sector.

• Measures to improve the standard of teacher training. These include the integration of practical training units in private enterprises, the organisation of training workshops for student teachers, and the arrangement of practical placements in vocational schools and enterprises at the end of their studies.

Results achieved so far

A new TVET law has been adopted and standards for vocational teachers have been enacted. The curricula have been revised in line with these standards.

To support the use of the revised, more practically oriented curricula, a set of manuals has been developed containing practical instructions for four priority occupational fields. Teachers and students have received training in the use of these manuals.

Several workshops and classrooms run by the VTED have been renovated and provided with equipment. Examples include an IT laboratory, and electrical and mechanical workshops. These facilities ensure the practical orientation of the teachers’ training. VEDI, VTED and the Lao German Technical College have signed an agreement which ensures all student teachers have access to the new facilities, as well as to other classrooms, workshops and laboratories, and which supports exchanges of students and teachers between the institutes.

A set of documents has been produced to support the organisation of industrial internships for student teachers.

A programme of further education was developed for ten TVET professionals, who travelled abroad to participate in a one-year course. They are now able to act as multipliers by contributing to the improvement in the overall quality of vocational teacher training. Under the programme, the ten teachers will now carry out transfer projects to share their knowledge with more than 500 beneficiaries.

Lecturers and students of vocational teacher education institutions have benefited from training for the teaching of students with disabilities.

Policymakers and private-sector decision makers have attended study trips to Germany where they could familiarise themselves with the vocational training system and learn how German employers are involved in the system.

In cooperation with the Association of Lao Garment Industries, the programme has developed, piloted and evaluated a training programme for teachers in the garments and textiles sector. In the future, this will be implemented by VEDI.

Working with two other TVET programmes in Laos and the ASEAN region, the programme has established the Entrepreneurship Training Center. Twelve master trainers have already graduated who, in the future, will provide training for in-company instructors.

Through various different media activities, more than 12,000 people have so far been informed about the possibilities of TVET and vocational teacher education.