It is true that principals in some schools have resisted the implementation and to some extent the very existence of Technical and Vocational Programmes within the secondary school system. As such very little support is given financially and otherwise to existing programmes. Teachers and students are often frustrated by this situation as not much can be achieved from the limited resources with which they have to work as well as the lack of moral support from administration. It is therefore clear that the system employed by some schools is not intended to facilitate or to direct students towards a career path but to relegate these departments to a mere holding area for nonperformers. Reports prepared by officers in the Ministry of Education, Region two, reveal that at least three high schools in that area have closed down Industrial Technology offerings leaving perfectly functional equipment to go to waste and limiting students’ vocational choices. It is evident that the philosophy supported by these principals is not consistent with Technical and Vocational Education and many are still grappling with the stigma attached to the area from our historical past.
Systems Employed
In the secondary schools there are two popular systems that are used in the selection/direction process, these are namely: “The Pool System” where students are basically allowed to select all their subjects with English and Mathematics compulsory and a “teacher directed system” where students are directed to an area based on the impression generated by the student especially throughout grade nine. In this case students are given the choices of the Sciences, The Arts, Business, Humanities or Technical.
System Challenges
In the systems described above there are many challenges that students face yearly and these to some extent can be perceived as contributing factors to the ineffectiveness of the Technical and Vocational Programme in some schools. For the pool system, some pools are normally oversubscribed based on students’ choices and as such students are normally removed and place in any other available pool whether or not students are desirous of pursuing these courses, a practice which is known to generate a lack of interest. For the teacher directed system students have very little say about the areas in which they are directed, performance in tests administered will determine where they go. It is critical to note, however, that the Technical and Vocational Programme at grades seven to nine is basically introductory and by itself cannot be used as a tool to determine whether or not a student will excel or underperform in a particular area.
Secondary schools are classified as Traditional High, Technical High and Upgraded high schools. Presently the traditional high school which is normally the school of choice receives the best of the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) with other students placed according to their performance. Upgraded high schools and Technical High Schools to a lesser extent will receive the weakest of this cohort. Subsequently, a number of the students entering the upgraded and technical high school have serious literacy challenges which are sometimes never treated or improved at this level. The few who have achieved mastery at literacy and numeracy are often directed to areas such as the sciences and humanities leaving the illiterates to pursue courses in the technical and vocational areas.
