EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. The transition to more just and sustainable development requires radical change across a wide range of areas and particularly within the nexus between learning and work. This book takes an expansive view of vocational education and training that goes beyond the narrow focus of much of the current literature and policy debate. Drawing on case studies across rural and urban settings in Uganda and South Africa, the book offers a new way of seeing this issue through an exploration of the multiple ways in which people learn to have better livelihoods. Crucially, it explores learning that takes place informally online, within farmers’ groups, and in public and private educational institutions. Offering new insights and ways of thinking about this field, the book draws out clear implications for theory, policy and practice in Africa and beyond.

Publisher Description

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. How can employers and unions be engaged? How can workbased learning be used? How can teachers and trainers be effectively prepared? How should ...

For developing countries, vocational training is a vital component of the drive to enhance productivity, stimulate economic competitiveness, and lift people out of poverty. However, training provision in many countries is underfinanced and fragmented, and traditional state-funded training programs are proving inadequate to the task. Financing Vocational Training in Sub-Saharan Africa emphasizes the central role that financing strategies should play in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of training systems as a whole, through incentives, greater competition, and the integration of private and public provision. This book describes the emerging consensus about best practice in the financing of training, drawing on experience in Latin America and Asia, and testing this consensus against findings from Sub-Saharan Africa. It sets out the case for financing interventions by governments and scrutinizes the role, and effectiveness, of national training agencies, payroll levies, and alternative transfer mechanisms for institutional funding. This discussion draws on lessons from the experience of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The book will be of particular interest to policymakers and practitioners of vocational training in developing countries, to development policy analysts, and to students and scholars of education and training systems worldwide.

Differences in historical, political, cultural, and economic contexts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) account for wide variations in structures, operating conditions, and outcomes in technical and vocational education (TVE). This diversity is associated with glaring disparities, so in examining policy trends and the reconstruction of training systems particular attention is focused on innovations in an effort to identify promising initiatives likely to contribute to the establishment of consistent TVE systems, closely linked with the world of work and involving labor market stakeholders. Some common emerging trends in TVE include the following: (1) a shift in the policy focus from inputs to outputs; (2) the use of new financing and certification mechanisms; (3) the involvement of social partners in governance; greater autonomy for institutions; (4) the promotion of private providers and company-based training; and (5) an increasing interest in the informal sector and skills development for poverty reduction. Issues addressed include these: (1) an overview of TVE systems in 10 SSA countries; (2) reviewing various models currently in place; (3) documenting relationships between African TVE systems and policies and donor intervention and traditions in TVE; (4) identifying reasons why certain reforms are facing implementation difficulties; analyzing specific innovations; (5) drawing lessons on the implementation of the reform agenda and its impact on TVE systems; and (6) discussing possible directions for future donor support. (Includes 167 references.) (MO).