Latest update January 30th, 2025 6:10 AM
Latest News
TVET institutions being prepared for audit
As a deadline swiftly approaches for a CARICOM-required audit of local technical and vocational institutions, the Ministry of Education through its Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) on Wednesday spearheaded a workshop intended to refine the operation of the institutions.
TVET Council Director, Sydney Walters
Targeting those charged with overseeing both public and private institutions, the forum, hosted at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), was designed to enlighten the participants about necessary guidelines that must be implemented.
The guidelines, which have already been prepared and approved by CARICOM, “are very clearly documented so we have got to implement them…everything we do in the institutions have got to meet the quality assurance guidelines that have been set,” said Director of the TVET Council, Mr Sydney Walters.
According to him, since CARICOM requires that each institution attains certain quality assurance standards, the requisite guidelines were prepared.
He said, too, that the move has been in the making for quite a few years whereby Guyana, like several Caribbean countries, is making strides to prepare post-secondary institutions, in the private and public sectors, to be recognised to award Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) certificates.
The TVET Council has been preparing institutions, particularly those that fall under the Ministry of Education, for the aforementioned recognition.
And to ensure that the requirements are met ahead of Guyana’s attempt to be recognised for the CVQ, an audit must be conducted for CARICOM by the Caribbean Association for National Training Agencies, according to the TVET Council Director.
“This workshop is part of the programme in preparing the various institutions in Guyana for when that time comes, and that will be done around September or October of this year.”
According to Walters, it would be required that institutions have the necessary facilities for the delivery of the various occupational programmes they offer and they must use regional occupational standards for their curriculum.
“They must train their tutorial staff and line management functionaries in the methodology used in the delivery of competency based programmes,” said Walters, who noted that “gone are the days when we persevered with the traditional mode of delivery. We have to have an assessment strategy, a certification strategy and of course, keep accurate records of students’ performance. Those are just some of the requirements we are working with.”
Among the institutions that are expected to undergo the upcoming audit are the Government Technical Institute, the Guyana Industrial Training Centre, the New Amsterdam Technical Institute, the Linden Technical Institute, the Essequibo Technical Institute, the Carnegie School of Home Economics, and the two most recently established Technical Institutes at Leonora and Mahaicony.
Also being targeted for the implementation of the guidelines are the Guyana Sugar Corporation Training Centre, the Kuru Kuru Training Centre and the Board of Industrial Training.
The workshop in session
According to Walters, the TVET Council has the mandate to implement competency-based education and training measures nationally, a move which will help to prepare the various institutions for the guidelines that will have to soon be put in place.
Although this has been on the cards for awhile, Walters said that it has been gaining significant momentum “because the whole Region is doing this…and if we are to meet the Regional qualification framework which was recognised and approved by CARICOM, we will have to do that.”
The one-day workshop was facilitated by Ms Wendy McLean, a representative of the Barbados TVET Council. She also chairs the Quality Assurance Committee of the Caribbean Association for National Training Agency, and on Wednesday stressed the importance of quality assurance within the various institutions.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The third parties will not survive this year’s elections
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The fate of third parties in this year’s general and regional elections is as predictable... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
