Quality through Assessment

Why should a professional welder with no formal education who has worked for 15 years have to attend a school to receive certification of her skills, even though she probably has more knowledge than any recent graduate? It is exactly this type of question which the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Strategy hoped to address by stating that the occupational assessment is the main feature of an outcome-based TVET system. This system of assessment, being introduced and supported by the Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp), allows anyone to be certified in a particular occupation provided that he or she demonstrates the required skills and knowledge.

The new system will ensure competences in a particular occupation, regardless as to whether the person has attended training in school or whether they learned during informal on the job training. Occupational assessments are being conducted in accredited public and private assessment centers by accredited assessors who are long term practicing experts in the world of work.

Under the new Occupational Assessment system, factory workers who have never received any formal education can still be certified in their occupation.

 

The importance of TVET in shaping the economic, social and political dimensions of the country has been recognized by the Ethiopian government and its value in securing higher paid employment is being noticed by the general public. The assessment is a very important part of the TVET system as it ensures that the quality of education is reflected in real and practical skills.

This is a new approach in Ethiopia and is the driving force behind a quality assured TVET system. To keep it moving forward the assessment must be acceptable to all stakeholders. This also has to be accompanied by the eventual ownership of the system by the end users, especially industry, as they will benefit the most in terms of an ample supply of competent and productive workers.

The occupational assessment is in conformity with the recently developed occupational standards which were created with the support of ecbp. The standards for Ethiopia were created based on benchmarks established by the International Labor Organization and other countries. Many countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Canada have been very successful in implementing the occupational assessment system.

The new TVET system gives training to teachers in a practical methodologies in order to transfer skills more successfully to students.

 

The outcome based assessment also serves as one of the indicators in determining the quality of training that the TVET institutions are delivering, and its basic principle is that assessment is independent from the training provision. Although assessments are open to anyone that chooses, the recent attendees of TVET institutions can be tracked and their results on the assessments will demonstrate how a particular institution is performing. Each region has Center of Competence which is the body in charge of implementing the assessment and certification. The Centers design their assessment programs according to the regional priorities and the local market demands.

Over the next few years, as more TVET graduates and current workforce members are being assessed, Ethiopia will show great improvements in the overall quality of employees available to industry.