Agricultural Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) in Africa
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Agricultural Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) in Africa: Overview and integration within broader agricultural knowledge and innovation systems By: Richard Hawkins 1 2 Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 4 PART I OVERVIEW OF ATVET IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA .................................................................. 7 People, food, work and agriculture in SSA ......................................................................................... 7 What is “ATVET”? ............................................................................................................................... 8 Challenges and developments in the TVET/ATVET sector................................................................ 13 ATVET integration within the broader AIS........................................................................................ 21 Initiatives in TVET and ATVET development in Africa ...................................................................... 28 ATVET and COVID ............................................................................................................................. 30 Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................................................. 33 PART II TVET/ATVET IN SELECTED COUNTRIES ............................................................................ 39 Benin ................................................................................................................................................. 39 Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................................. 45 Ghana ................................................................................................................................................ 51 Kenya ................................................................................................................................................ 56 Nigeria............................................................................................................................................... 63 Uganda .............................................................................................................................................. 68 The Netherlands ............................................................................................................................... 76 PART III ATVET CASE STUDIES ....................................................................................................... 81 Aligning ATVET to national policy and key value chains in Benin ..................................................... 81 Integrating ATVET teaching and practice with local stakeholders at Bure Agricultural Polytechnic College, Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................... 86 Need-Based Curriculum Development: Training of TVET Instructors in Agro-Processing in Ethiopia .......................................................................................................................................................... 90 Linking ATVET to value chain development: collaboration between Holeta and Maichew Colleges and the HortiLIFE project in Ethiopia................................................................................................ 94 Moving from theory-based to competency-based practice at Agricultural Colleges in Ghana ....... 98 Developing a competence-based curriculum at the Dairy Training Institute, Kenya ..................... 103 The Latia Resource Foundation – combining non-profit and for profit ATVET activities ............... 108 ATVETs under a university umbrella: The Division of Agricultural Colleges at Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria .......................................................................................................................... 113 The Leventis Foundation Agricultural School in Kano, Nigeria....................................................... 119 3 Executive Summary Agricultural production and employment opportunities in the agri-food sector in Sub- Saharan Africa are not keeping up with the demands resulting from population growth. Nor are education systems yet sufficiently developing the technical, entrepreneurial and life skills needed for an attractive, vibrant and remunerative agri-food sector. This report looks at efforts in the region to develop and implement agricultural, technical and vocational education and training (ATVDT). It does this by reviewing TVET and ATVET policies, the institutional landscape and experience in the region and selected countries (Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda). Key policies and changes relating to the regulation of ATVET institutions and their programmes, and the introduction of competency-based education and training (CBET) are reviewed. To complement this information, a number of case studies were commissioned from these countries to illustrate some of the challenges faced and successes achieved by individual ATVET institutes in implementing these policies and integrating practical education in agri- food systems within the broader “agricultural innovation system”. Based on this review at regional, national and local levels, a number of conclusions – or more accurately, propositions, are postulated. Based on these propositions, opportunities to support ATVET are identified, with a particular focus on ways in which countries such as the Netherlands can support indigenous efforts to promote ATVET in SSA. These propositions and opportunities include: 1. National Policies and the legal framework for (formal) TVET and ATVET are increasingly in place in many SSA countries, but the implementation of these policies is proving complex, and is yet to be effective. • Support continued ATVET policy development, review and reflection, at continental, national or organizational level. 2. Agricultural TVET is increasingly being brought under education authorities, rather than agriculture under which many traditional agricultural colleges were established to provide a cadre of public extension agents which has largely been phased out in most countries. Inter-sectoral agricultural skills councils, intended to identify skills development priorities, are yet to become operative and effective, hence the identification of key occupations and competencies needed to guide ATVET is weak. • Promote national level networking by supporting and operationalizing intersectoral ATVET working groups or skills councils, etc., their terms of reference, working procedures as well as, where useful, initial operational costs. 3. The introduction of “Competency-based education and training” (CBET), an increasing component of ATVET policy, intended to improve the development of practical competencies required, but a broad understanding of this approach and its implementation is still lacking in most ATVET institutions. The capacity of ATVET instructors to develop, deliver and assess CBET is especially limiting the introduction of the approach, as many of these instructors are graduates themselves of a more traditional and theoretical approach and have not had pedagogical training. 4 • Support the development of a cadre of CBET instructors in ATVET in priority countries and selected universities/colleges, harmonizing approaches of development partners with national authorities. 4. There is no broad international consensus to the definition of agricultural “occupations”, some relating occupations to value chains, and others maintaining a broader approach. • Promote international and national dialogue on how best to define agricultural occupations and support the development of occupational standards of key/priority occupations. 5. Agriculture as a profession, and TVET as an education, are both unattractive to young people in SSA. Agricultural TVET is therefore often seen as a steppingstone to something more attractive and lucrative. Academic progression is therefore important to many ATVET students, who value university qualifications more. • Promote agricultural and food-related occupations as rewarding and remunerative careers, through publicity campaigns showing the potential careers and possibilities of entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector. 6. The overlapping activities and programmes of different types of educational institute, including ATVET colleges, polytechnics, applied science/technical universities and universities provide opportunities for collaboration, but also challenges for distinct regulatory authorities. The comparability of qualifications across vocational (CBET) and academic programmes within a single NQF framework presents potential difficulties, possibly limiting the possibilities for academic progression which remains important to many young people. • Promote international and national discussions on the strategic development of integrated institutional landscapes in agricultural education, and flexible yet complementary mandates for different types of agricultural education. 7. Although much ATVET was originally established to provide manpower for government extension, the “privatization” of these services has led to diminished linkages between education and development. Although well-meaning in theory, efforts to regulate, certify and accredit “non-formal”