"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." - Samuel Johnson
Education and training in agriculture includes both the technical and vocational training and the university sectors. The relatively short history of vocational training in LDCs, its poor status compared to higher education, links to employment and other social policies, and traditional association with MDC models, provide an opportunity for greater inclusion of natural resource management principles.
Vocational education and training (VET) in LDCs derives its traditions from MDCs and from skills training in apprenticeships and guilds; Vocational Education in Asia traces modern institutionalized form from its origins last century. The orientation of general education to vocational skills however, is a more recent phenomenon associated with the introduction of social and economic development plans (ADB, 1991). Policies concerning skills development or vocational education are now common throughout Asia, with the noteworthy exception of Singapore. This is related, sometimes overtly, to social policies promoting wide employment which in turn encourages a vocational orientation in secondary schools. This Chapter focuses primarily on vocational colleges at tertiary level.
A range of VET systems exist around the world and particularly in Asia. These vary from full integration of education and training within formal school systems, to full separation between academic and vocational schools. In other cases, separation is made between educational institutions, vocational training institutes, and industry training. The relative degrees of separation appear to be a function of the individual history of a country. Discussions considered that ... neither total integration nor total separation of education [and training] is desirable (ADB, 1991). Industry-based training is suitable for some fields while others benefit from formal and non-formal schooling systems.
| Vocational Education in Asia
[VET] systems have a long history in the region. In India, it dates back to the 19th Century, coinciding with the inception of the railway network. In Malaysia, institutionalized technical education can be traced back to 1906 when a technical teacher school was set up to train technicians for the Malaysian railways and public works department in Kuala Lumpur. In Pakistan, a technical training center was established in Peshawar during World II (1941) to train skilled workers in various engineering trades for war material production in the army and ordnance factories. ADB (1991) |
Defining VET is difficult. The separation of systems described above is further complicated by somewhat unnecessary separations between education and training introduced by international organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ILO limits its activities to training while UNESCO focuses on education. This leads to one organization referring to vocational education while the other refers to the same activity as vocational training. It should be noted that these two organizations are now conscious of the need to integrate their education and training activities.
Murugasu (1991) defines Technical and Vocational Education and Training as including all forms of training provided in formal and non- formal sectors which leads to a skilled occupation. It is based on practical training and knowledge provided in both schools and training centers. A similar definition is employed by Middleton et al (1993) who focus on training for skilled workers and technicians. Their book, while primarily related to skills training in LDCs, provides economic, psychological and educational research information which further defines the area and effectiveness of VET.
The database available for VET and its relationship to other forms of education is of relatively poor quality (Bhowon and Chinapah, 1993) reflecting our Poor Knowledge in Training. Likewise, there is concern that demand for graduates of VET may not be accurately assessed and Dhanini (1993) has noted the difference between public and private perceptions on the issue. In general, private companies in LDCs do not view skills shortages as a major problem and large companies provide their own in-house training.
| Poor Knowledge in Training
The problems [surrounding poor data availability] arise mainly because:
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MDCs base VET in a wider education and training context, than do LDCs, with the aim of ensuring a flexible workforce able to acquire new skills in changing circumstances. High technology industries require specialized skills, and emphasis in VET is placed on providing the essential knowledge and skills necessary for further learning for such new circumstances. Murugasu (1991) notes three general models utilized in MDCs:
Recent changes in Eastern European economies provide further insight as to the differences between MDCs and other countries. From the 1970s, in the USSR, education was oriented to training young people for employment in social and economic development. This system was extended to other socialist economies. Over time, the system shifted from industry training to school-based training with increasing responsibility of the Ministry of Education or a separate Ministry of Higher (and Specialized Secondary) Education. This general drift towards increased formal training was viewed with concern by some who considered it politically consistent yet educationally limiting.
In its document - Priorities and Strategies for Education - the World Bank (1995) notes the current sharp drop in student enrollment for vocational and technical programs in Romania, among other transitional economies. This is in contrast to an increased demand for higher education at the same time. Despite this perception of the personal value of a university degree in such circumstances the general fall in employment levels expected in economic transitions may impact more on university than VET graduates.
In considering the educational requirements for Sub-Saharan Africa, The World Bank emphasized the critical role of VET. However, they note that formal schools may not be the best source of such vocational skills development. This thesis is presented in more philosophical terms by Orr (1992) who implies that institutionally based VET emphasizes the status quo rather than instilling of values or attitudinal changes. The ADB-World Bank (ADB, 1991) Conference noted specific problems which vocational schools face, foremost of which is inflexibility and possible irrelevancy of programs. Incorporated in these criticisms is an inability to remain up-to-date with the rapid technological changes required to service industries.
| Training To Do What?
... too much specialization in vocational courses involves a risk of not being profitable in the future job should world-wide technologies which impact developing countries change. On the other hand, the three Rs are important in every type of job, although their immediate effects on productivity may be smaller than occupation-specific skills. Furthermore, while still in school, basic skills enhance the ability to learn vocational skills, and vocational courses showing the relevance of basic skills can feed back and improve learning in general education courses. So there is complementarity both in learning and later in use of the more general and more applied concepts and skills. McMahon et al (1992) |
Inflexible curricula and weak linkages to industry have their own impact on the quality of training such that students could ask - Training To Do What?. This leads directly to aid investment decisions to reduce expenditure on formal VET. Nevertheless, political imperatives associated with youth employment and rural to urban migration may be expected to continue to override such advice in the foreseeable future. Bishop (1989) has noted that benefits of vocational training are directly related to the congruence of training and the subsequent job of the graduate.
School-based training is favored by Lauglo (1991) in situations where technology and occupations are expected to change in response to government policies. They are also favored in those countries with social policies to provide training linked to employment. However, such linkages to employment are often weak and, especially in times of economic recession, this can lead to decreasing relevance of training. In addition, the complexity of organizing apprenticeship programs often prevents their implementation in LDCs, even though it may reduce government investment requirements. Dougherty (1991) further observes that the worker development orientation of VET assumes that supply and demand for different skills are independent of each other, and that the primary objective of VET planning is to ensure a ready supply of workers. Education and training become more complementary when VET is considered from an in-service perspective for Person Power.
| Person Power
A general outcome on the discussions on manpower planning was that planning based on manpower forecasts is not very useful except in new major development thrusts or initiatives (e.g. petrochemical production). The approach can also be effective when enterprises are planned or existing ones expanded. The forecast period should not be long and periodic up-dating of data is crucial. Macroeconomic planning is, however, a useful and important tool, for formulating economic development policies. New methods are, however, needed to determine manpower requirements ... manpower planning must be closely linked to industries' needs. Joint Government - industry effort must be ensured to allow start up, shut down and other changes. ADB (1991) |
Contrary views of the superior benefits of in-service training as a basis for VET were expressed in the discussion at the VET Conference (ADB, 1991) at which studies for countries as diverse as the USSR and Indonesia also suggested higher rates of return from vocational school education than from general academic education. The implication was drawn that school-based VET is efficient and should be sustained. This leads to the conclusion that an appropriate response to weaknesses in VET is modification of existing school-based training rather than a wholesale switch to in-service based training. This is one viewpoint. Other discussions concerning modes of VET delivery emphasize the benefits of in-industry training. As the World Bank (1995) notes ... international experience suggests that vocational and technical education and training are most effective when they follow a sound general education and are job related.
The responsibility of the private sector in providing in-service training is critical in terms of providing a training venue, prospective future employment, and meeting training costs - at least in part. Much of the World Bank's (1995) argument rests on analysis of the rates of return to various types of education which, according to the type of analysis utilized (for example, Psacharopoulos, 1989), can suggest that the rates of return for both VET and higher education are well below those of primary and secondary education.
The World Bank's (World Bank, 1994) policy study of education in Sub-Saharan Africa similarly concludes that vocational training is better provided to persons who have secured initial employment, with the possible exception of some general skills such as typing and accounting. Perhaps the most comprehensive collection of arguments against school and college based VET in general is that of Haddad et al (1990) which lists tens of studies which suggest that skills training in vocational schools is neither the most cost-effective nor the most educationally effective method of such training. Metcalf (1985) has summarized much of this research and concludes that:
Many of the studies referred to have been conducted by or on behalf of the World Bank as is appropriate considering that it is the largest international financing institution for VET. The conclusions of these documents have far reaching implications for VET in general - refocusing of lending and donor assistance for VET in LDCs should stem from this. Overall, such studies conclude that skills-oriented training should be industry-based with institutional training providing a general underpinning for teaching of generic skills. An early study (Bennett, 1967) noted that enrollments in vocational education, as a ratio of general secondary education, rose up to a GNP per capita income of US$500 before declining with further increases in income levels. The application of VET funds to equivalent situations today in providing skills to poor or poorly educated persons would appear to be one exception to widespread reliance on industry-based training.
In essence, the arguments that training is more relevant if conducted in industry and is of benefit to those industries and should therefore be paid for by those industries, is similar to current arguments for the funding of applied research activities which incur a private benefit. In this situation, the Friendly Advice of the Asian Development Bank is practical, broadminded and colloquial.
| Friendly Advice
There may be no single one best mode of training but a common weakness of institution-based training is inadequate contact with employers and general insensitivity to the labor market. Reach out. Talk to local employers and trade unions and not just to national representatives. Listen to trainees who have been looking for work. If you are disillusioned with school-based training, beware of the romantic view of what training in industry is like. If you are running an employment-based scheme, back it up with evening classes and with a cadre of supervisors and inspectors. Do not assume that a person is given any special training, just because he/she is registered as a trainee or apprentice in industry. Check it out. Make sure that top officials pick up the very considerable labor market insights which most teachers who are responsible for placing trainees in industry will have. Lauglo (1991) |
VET is perhaps the least glamorous area of education. The pattern of MDCs, where more academically gifted students are channeled into higher education and those less academically able into VET, is mirrored in most LDCs. The high value placed on general education as a means of maintaining a social and financial continuum with research does not favor VET. The conceptual viewpoint of VET that skills can be taught and form a base for further learning is limited insofar as it assumes that pieces of information on new technologies are inherently valuable in the absence of a knowledge base which assimilates that information into a wider context. The role of VET in agricultural extension is thus questioned by some.
IFPRI (1995) notes the mixed performance record of public sector extension in LDCs. It calls for innovative approaches to strengthen communications between researchers and farmers while noting that the importance of information for agricultural systems will increase dramatically in the next two decades. Information dissemination can be expected to accelerate through satellite communication, radio, video and even the Internet. While reviewers with a research orientation may call for improved linkages and innovative approaches to extension in order to overcome apparent deficiencies of the past, failure to acknowledge the critical role of education in providing a knowledge base, and as the context for extension, may in fact be a limiting factor in the success of existing extension programs.
Extension can be considered to be the extending of the classroom to a wider environment as one component of education, or it may be interpreted to be a mechanism to institute behavioral change. In terms of behavioral change, Hatfield and Karlen (1993) note that we all have greater difficulty acknowledging shortcomings in our own actions than in seeing such shortcomings in the actions of others. Relating this to natural resource management practices, they note the difficulty of extension programs in instituting such behavioral change. In the USA, for example, farmers' knowledge appears to be limited by conditioning to ask for a new technological solution to a problem rather than refining existing knowledge and technologies. Farmers obtain information from their own experiences, indigenous knowledge, literature, research, neighbors, field agents, field days, dealers and a myriad of other sources. The problem does not appear to be a lack of information or sources of information but an ability to integrate this with an existing knowledge base. As Hatfield and Karlen (1993) note ... while information is an important resource for the sustainable farmer, the critical resource for the farmer is the ability to synthesize this information, and to make the best management choices possible for his/her farming operation.
Education provides an essential level of knowledge among producers as an essential input to a sustainable farming system. This role of agricultural or natural resource management education is a critical component which is easily overlooked if extension is interpreted in isolation from the utility of the information being disseminated.
Knowledge of extension and its modes of operation are limited. Anderson and de Haan (1992) note the relatively brief history of extension and the limitations placed on it through its common association with public institutions. Reconsideration of the role of extension, particularly amongst international financing organizations, provides an opportunity for better understanding of its place in the continuum which is constituted by agricultural education, extension and research.
In a situation of rising food requirements from a finite resource base, and with the conditions generated by such a dilemma magnified in those LDCs with high population growth rates, the need for widespread understanding of natural resource management principles is critical. The role of natural resource management education including agricultural education, can be conceived in terms of its contributions to:
Opinions expressed in internal documents and by staff of international development banks suggest that lending for VET is problematic in many cases - as is lending for education and agriculture according to some. Such statements contrast with more practical calls for action, such as in the World Bank Policy Study for Education in Sub- Saharan Africa (World Bank, 1993), which indicated that the most important activity for international donors is the stimulation of joint training with industry, with a significant financial and policy commitment from industry. Such a sentiment is consistent with the diverse literature concerning VET in general terms. Indeed, such a conclusion is consistent with the predicted future trends derived from the joint ADB and World Bank Conference on VET in LDCs which noted:
Murugasu (1991) classified VET into three general areas. They are: agriculture, commercial (or business), and home economics (or home science). The first impacts more significantly on natural resource management and therefore warrants further attention.
Advanced agriculture relies on a combination of management inputs. Just as fertilizer, irrigation, and other physical inputs are required, the ingredients of management are critical and best applied under circumstances of integrated knowledge. A well educated highly alert farmer, as described by Weitz and Landau (1971), is best able to apply the most appropriate combination of methods and inputs to achieve desired outcomes. Likewise such a knowledge base is essential to the accommodation of natural resource management principles within agricultural production.
However, ensuring a widespread, well-rounded education for farmers in LDCs is not yet possible. Improved service to such farmers from well educated advisers is one substitute, and in the absence of broad education, training of advisers and a few key farmers in technologies and techniques remains a major role of agricultural VET. Agricultural VET in Sri Lanka presents an example of the shaky base of such agricultural VET in LDCs. Schultz (1964) similarly emphasizes the important role of on-the-job training as a complementary approach to school or college based agricultural VET.
| Agricultural VET in Sri Lanka
Agricultural education was confined to a single school of agriculture providing a two year vocational course. Its medium of instruction was English, which was not the language of the farmers in Ceylon. There was no organization for training farmers. In the late 1950s, practical farm schools were opened, with instruction in the national languages, but few trainees from these schools went back to farming. In recent years, some of them have been settled in special projects within the colonization schemes, where it is expected their high management capability could be combined better with adequate land and capital resources. In-service training of extension workers has been carried out only at irregular intervals. With aid from the FAO, attempts have been made recently to set up regular training schemes for all extension officers. Andarawewa (1971) |
Analysis of the relationship between education and economic growth has provided an indication of the benefits of agricultural VET (Tilak, 1989). Such analyses, in many cases, mix education and training under a generic term of agricultural education. Often it seems that, in many cases, that it is in fact VET which is being referred to in terms of imparting specific skills and ability to apply technology in agriculture. In discussing these analyses, Moock and Addou (1993) note the need to compare the use of similar inputs in situations with variable education and training levels of farmers. The outcomes of such analyses appear to confirm the benefits of some skills-based training for increased agricultural productivity. This conclusion might be stretched to suggest that VET can similarly impart the application of environmentally sensitive technologies which are not necessarily related to immediate economic outcomes. A survey of 18 studies linking farmer education to efficiency of activities confirms the common economic relationship and further supports the contention that farmer training could be a critical aspect of resource management (Lockheed et al, 1990). In reality, farmers in fact are managers of terrestrial resources and their actions follow traditions, levels of knowledge and personal imperatives, rather than centrally stated policies on resource management.
The skills required in agriculture vary with technology type and rate of change (Welch, 1978). While knowledge for subsistence farming tends to be passed on between generations, changing technology requires increased knowledge and ability to utilize new techniques. New skills in such areas as the maintenance and repair of machines becomes more important. It is in these areas that agricultural VET links to the wider education and training sector. Skills needed in modern agriculture are more transferable to the wider economy than are skills relating to subsistence agriculture. Agricultural VET can therefore be seen to contribute to the general economy and as a mechanism for bringing new persons into the agricultural sector who have skills relevant to new practices - even in a situation of declining total numbers in the sector. Middleton et al (1993) observe that rural VET institutions have been most effective when their objectives and curricula are closely aligned to the specific skill needs of individuals entering self- employment, including farming.
However, VET in rural areas should not be restricted to agricultural training alone. The agricultural sector, in moving from a traditional to a higher technology mode as is or expected to be the case in most LDCs, will lead to displacement of persons who should be empowered to move into alternative careers through appropriate training. For this reason, VET institutions in rural areas need to overcome their specific problems in attracting appropriate staff to offer the range of training that will effectively impart a wider range of skills. In a period of transition, wage employment related to agriculture is increasingly found in government ministries. However, as Middleton et al (1993) found, re- orientation of VET to train agricultural extension agents and technicians can become socially inefficient when such agricultural services are fully staffed or government hiring is constrained. This has been well demonstrated in Thailand for example, where rapid expansion, assisted with World Bank and other funds, created a new agency with extension agents required for each sub-district in the country. Such an expansionary trend in agricultural education tends to run counter, in the short term, to the general trend of decreasing employment in agriculture as a proportion of total employment opportunities in developing economies.
The relative contributions of international support, using the World Bank, as the primary indicator, compared to industry and service areas is presented in Figure 5.1.
Figure 5.1 Average World Bank Support for Vocational Education and Training by Sector, 1963-1988 (after Middleton et al, 1993)
![[graph]](fig5-1.gif)
Short specific vocational courses run through schools have been most successful in early stages of development in European cultures (Schultz, 1965). This contrasts with the longer formal courses more commonly provided by vocational colleges. It also appears to contrast with the suggestion of Weitz and Landau (1971) that migrants within Africa with limited skills, benefit from short vocational courses to widen employment opportunities in rural and urban areas. There is however, a wider issue concerning the nature of vocational education and its functions.
Agricultural VET has serviced agricultural extension in many LDCs, particularly when stimulated by foreign assistance. Byrnes and Byrnes (1971), in determining that the separation of agricultural VET from extension can cause a lack of focus, proposed a number of remedial innovations. These included a focus on people, and the role of education as a means of behavioral change. In this manner, the indissoluble nexus between agricultural education and extension is clearly seen.
Certain levels of competency are required from agricultural VET including; technical, economic, science, farming, and communication skills. Matching competency to tasks in employed or self-employed situations is a critical challenge, particularly where the improved mobility between rural and urban areas is included as a social objective of VET funding.
Multiple skilling is an objective of many training programs. Zarraga and Green (1985), present these as the development of everyday life-skills and skills for particularly work assignments. An FAO (1985) presentation of case studies of various extension and training interventions in LDCs indicates that many have failed to meet their objectives fully as a result of mismatching of competency needs and training outcomes, and the large social transition which accompanies economic development in rural areas.
Equity in access to agricultural VET is generally discussed as being less problematic than that of higher education. In terms of gender equity however, Figure 5.2 indicates very low percentages of females in agricultural VET. This information, while it may only be indicative, is of concern in that the functions of agriculture in developing economies commonly involve both females and males. In periods of economic transition, males appear to be more mobile than females, thereby increasing the proportion of females responsible for agricultural production. Whether mobility is a cause or an effect of VET raises the question of equality of opportunity in such a circumstance.
A further equity issue of importance in agricultural VET stems from its essential rural focus. Policies supporting the funding of rural VET colleges have assumed that educational offerings in rural areas should differ from those in urban areas. This leads to rural students being disadvantaged by the limited opportunity to gain mobile technical skills. In some case, there exists an overt policy aimed at reducing rural to urban migration especially for young people. In periods of economic transition, as can be expected in most LDCs if development programs are successful, mobility of skills, migration and other significant social changes occur. In any case, as Middleton et al (1993) observe, such anti-mobility policies have usually failed.
Figure 5.2 Female Vocational Enrollment (%) by Field of Study(after
Middleton et al, 1993) ![[graph]](fig5-2.gif)
In countries with large rural populations and policies favoring their education, the majority of students in vocationally oriented colleges have been drawn from urban areas (Byrnes and Byrnes, 1971) and continue to be today. As such colleges are frequently aligned with agricultural extension training, criticism focuses on competence for that task. In the face of criticism of such colleges, foreign assistance donors often seem to react by making further investments in re-training those already trained by the VET system.- refer to the Box - Unvetted VET Investment.
| Unvetted VET Investment
Wherever one goes in the developing world, one is likely to find growing restlessness about mounting criticism of the ability of local agricultural systems to cope effectively with development problems. While agreeing that development depends upon education, most development specialists find themselves attacking existing educational systems as being dysfunctional. Typically, rather than attempting to correct the problems they launch ambitious programs to train already educated people. Byrnes and Byrnes (1971) |
The pervasive perception that VET colleges exist to service less academically gifted students is a major impediment to their function. In agriculture, the perception can cause VET to be seen as a substitute for higher education. The unrelated image of agriculture as a low status occupation involving persons with high manual yet not so high intellectual skills, is reinforced through such a perception.
Agricultural extension is a widely accepted approach to imparting information and technology which requires new skills. Its original integration with education and training has been lost somewhat in those countries which separate the functions of research, education and extension (refer to Chapter 8). The orientation of VET to the requirements of specific agricultural extension employment requires an external monitoring function to maintain relevance of course offerings.
The almost total separation of agricultural VET from research functions limits the automatic introduction of new knowledge through personal experience of staff and thus requires some formalized process to ensure regular updating of programs in Training for Extension. Middleton et al (1993) notes that institutional autonomy in curriculum development leads to potentially greater efficiencies in some colleges run by non-government organizations, as compared to publicly run institutions. Recent renewed interest in partnerships between farmers and suppliers of services of development (Merrill-Sands and Collion, 1994), suggests that area-specific interactions between development, social transition and education may best involve organizations willing to operate on a partnership basis with farmers.
Chowdhury and Al-Haj (1985) support the contentions of Byrnes and Byrnes (1971) that training for agricultural development is confounded by:
Such disparate approaches between VET and other education is linked, by some observers, to the separation of the arts from the sciences, an area not commonly considered in VET debates with their skills focus; others see it as simply the biases of educational systems. Andarawewa (1971) reporting on Sri Lanka in the 1960s notes ... the education system has been oriented towards the teaching of arts and humanities as against technical or vocational training. Therefore, the majority of graduates of both high schools and universities do not have the competence to direct, undertake or manage development.
| Training for Extension
The effectiveness of extension however, rests heavily on the training of field agents. Both agricultural schools and sectoral training agencies managed directly by Ministries of Agriculture provide pre-service training. The need for continuing in-service training and upgrading for extension staff has led to considerable development of the sectoral training agencies. Training is highly specialized; extension agents must learn communication and monitoring skills as well as technical skills. Training of extension managers is also important. Middleton et al (1993) |
In reviewing literature concerning VET and agricultural VET in particular, one might well ask whether it has a long term future as it is currently conceived and implemented. The issues include such points as those included VET Heal Thyself! Major issues, it could be argued, may be addressed through industry-based in-service training on the one hand, and supplemented self-help schemes for short technology- oriented training on the other. However, a significant infrastructure in the form of existing colleges and schools, trained teachers and societal expectation works against any such proposal. Perhaps the over-riding conclusion is the need for a balance of approaches to VET to work in parallel and in conjunction with each other to minimize the impact of inherent system weaknesses.
A World Bank (1991) policy paper isolates the following areas for future action in the VET sector:
| VET Heal Thyself!
Issues for agricultural VET in LDCs include:
|
These issues are being addressed in developing a national strategy for agricultural colleges in Thailand (DOVE, 1995). The approach being taken in that case is oriented to the needs of employers and students in determining the allocation of resources and the educational product itself. It recognizes that a totally market-demand driven system has less relevance to agricultural VET than to industrial VET, yet embodies the important aspect of a philosophical commitment to orient activities to required outcomes. Employers of agricultural VET colleges expect graduates to be ... skilled workers and technicians [who] can work independently with a minimum of supervision, who are practically oriented, interested in agriculture, trainable and capable of quickly adopting new skills, with the right work attitudes and social communications skills. This was not seen to be deliverable from colleges operating in relative isolation from employers or from staff who had retreated behind college walls.
With agricultural VET colleges in most of Thailand's 75 provinces, the relevance of a nationally controlled system and curriculum is being questioned and consideration given to local industry-based Advisory or Executive Boards. Increased financial autonomy, reorganization of lines of authority within colleges and within the national college coordination system are seen as pre-conditions to addressing specific educational issues including quality assurance. The need for national policy makers to take an interest in reorienting the agricultural VET system is noted to be a pre-condition to a successful outcome.
From a broader natural resource management perspective, the outcomes of the FAO (1995) Electronic Conference concerning working with farmers in partnership while strengthening training provides indications for Training for Natural Resource Management.
| Training for Natural Resource Management
1. Adopt a participatory approach for joint action between partners (local populations, especially the food insecure, farmers' groups, NGOs, governments) ... 2. Establish new research partnerships with women ... 3. Develop and implement training methods and approaches to help all levels in organizations, and in interaction with farmers and the food insecure, to adopt behavior and attitudes which are truly participatory, non-dominating, and empowering. 4. Finance more national and international fully participatory research, integrating all natural resources departments and institutes with full linkages to the global knowledge system and adequate documentation of indigenous knowledge ... 5. Enable local people especially the food insecure, to strengthen their indigenous know-how, to express their needs and priorities, and to meet these by encouraging relevant research, development and dissemination of technology which they can control. FAO (1995) |
In considering the role of VET in natural resource management education, agricultural training must be designed within appropriate resource management principles. The original purpose of VET remains valid, viz.; the training of technically able persons to work in areas of agricultural production, environmental protection and management. If, as argued elsewhere, agricultural higher education will progressively shift to a broader natural resource management education context, agricultural VET may be seen within the broader agricultural education shift. In that circumstance, one might expect agricultural VET to include a wider range of natural resource management principles and techniques. For example, plowing of fields would acknowledge techniques conducive to minimal tillage, minimal use of weedicides, low potential for erosion, and protection of high risk and environmentally important areas. Discussions concerning VET have not ventured far along this path. Nevertheless, it appears that agricultural VET is poised for a period of change in the light of funding imperatives, and the general trend of allocating government services and funding to industries. The opportunity to expand agricultural VET to incorporate skills and techniques of environmental protection and management is now before us. The retention of government responsibility, at least for such public good elements, needs to be emphasized.
Education and training for natural resource management in LDCs builds strongly, both in terms of logic and responsibility, on existing agricultural higher education and VET. Insofar as agricultural education approaches in LDCs have borrowed heavily from MDCs, some further comment on the origins, and current and expected future trends for natural resource management education in the MDCs is warranted. This forms the substance of the following Chapter.
You think we want only technical skills, for employment as of old, in factories and mills; While suited to some who seek such tether, it is not suitable for all, or forever.
With new interests, new knowledge develops, further learning more than retraining envelops, a context for specialties must provide, Education, training - one not the other deride.
As the doctor requires sound skills to act, mixed with knowledge, learning and access to fact, So in fields of agriculture, we yearn, We need more, please don't deny us the right to learn.
We work in farm and laboratory, in regulation and other such tasks advisory, which require knowledge for learning clients, We need more than rote-skills, we can't be compliant.
That invisible barrier break down, Let enlightened action illuminate the gown, No longer binding us to this one caste, Training to education as one, thus bound fast.
