Pinoy TVET

Technical Education and Skills Development (TESDA) Director-General Sec. Joel Villanueva recently encouraged private institutions to help improve the quality of TVET education in the Philippines by helping police their own ranks to ensure that only qualified institutions which could help in the development of technical education and skills development are in the playing field.  ( Philippine Information Agency , September 20, 2011) This is a bold statement and is an indication of a bold--and needed--direction for technical education and skills development of the country. Actually, the development of self-regulating TVET bodies, including that of TVET institutions, has been one of the goals TESDA has been aiming for for sometime now but couldn't pursue fully due to structural hurdles it still need to overcome.  Its charter, Republic Act 7796, seems to assume a strong presence of association of technical-vocational institutions when it  provides that the TESDA Board--th...

Ever since the establishment of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA, private sector participation and investment in technical vocational education and training (TVET) has been encouraged.  The thinking is that, since the private sector is the major provider and end-user of TVET, it should invest more in TVET. However, it should be pointed out that private sector investment already comprises the majority of investment in TVET.  In 2002, for example, about 54 percent of investment in TVET came from the private sector.  It is however, interesting to note that more than half of this (around 53 percent or $58 million) came from the trainees themselves who paid for their training.  Meanwhile, companies invested $32 million (around 30 percent of the private sector investment) and non-government organizations or NGOs invested $14 million (around 13 percent). (" Investment in Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Philippines ," p....

The Philippine government has been integrating some sort of technical-vocational skills in basic education.  For many years now, parts of competencies found in the current Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (or TESDA) training regulations of courses such as crop production, horticulture, tailoring, carpentry and commercial cooking have been included in elementary and high school subjects one way or another.  Recently though, the Department of Education has decided to fully insert whole qualifications for National Certificate Level I (for most qualifications) and National Certificate Level II (for a few) in the high school curriculum. (High school students will be submitted to TESDA competency assessments after finishing the qualifications.) In fact, more than half a billion pesos has been allocated for continuing the implementation of this program during the next several years. ( Philippine Daily Inquirer , September 9, 2011) Agri-Fishery Sector as Priorit...

Local government units (LGUs) remain among the most valuable implementers of technical-vocational education and training (TVET) program in the Philippines.  In 2002, around a third of public expenditures on TVET (or around PhP1.56 billion) came from local government units. (" Investment in the Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Philippines ," p. 67; published by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Institute of Educational Planning)  Most TVET training conducted by LGUs are short-term courses (ranging from a few hours to several months) and are often along well-known qualifications or occupations such as automotive mechanic, welding and electrical installation and maintenance.  TVET courses funded but not directly conducted by LGUs are often along courses whose trainer, equipment and/or supplies requirement are beyond local government budgets such as advanced welding and heavy equipment operation or ser...

The apprenticeship program is one of the means private companies use to generate skilled workers for their specific needs despite mismatches between their requirements and the skills possessed by job applicants.  A training modality under what are classified as enterprise-based training (others include learnership and on-the-job training), trainees learn by observing and learning from experienced skilled workers inside the company.  Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director-general Sec. Joel Villanueva recently encouraged private firms to step up their participation in the apprenticeship program as a means of getting workers because "the best place to acquire skills is in the workplace".  ( Manila Bulletin , September 3, 2011) Considering apprenticeship as a generator of skilled workers involves several things for the firm.  The following are some of them: Are the competencies and skills needed by the firm not available in the present pool o...

Competency assessment is the mechanism being used by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA to determine whether a certain worker meets the minimum industry standard for a particular job (or more precisely, qualification) as indicated in the training regulations.  At first glance, it appears that competency assessment is nothing but the final hurdle every graduate of TVET or any practitioner of a blue-collar worker should pass in order to be regarded as a legitimate practitioner of a particular qualification.  (After passing it, a TVET graduate or skilled worker can apply for a national certificate or certificate of competency depending on the the competencies he passed during the assessment.  These certificates then can be used to vouch for the skills of the person.) Competency assessment, however, has inherent complexities that TVET graduates and blue-collar workers have to deal with. First, most companies in the Philippines at present do ...

Buying training is often like buying a new house: you get something valuable but you live with the consequences for a long time.  Despite this, many people enroll in TVET courses without proper perspective.  Part of the blame goes to the individual trainee himself, to common perceptions of TVET, to how schools market their courses and indeed how the TVET sector sees itself in relation to the labor market. The Person Himself Many trainees of TVET enroll in TVET as a last recourse (perhaps because they did not pass the college entrance test or perhaps because they do not have the money to enroll in bachelor's degree courses) and thus think little about whether the course fits their aptitudes and interests; whether there is demand for the graduates of that course during the next several years (and thus ensure that they have consistent career paths); whether their physical conditions are suited for the rigors of the job that will result from the course; and whether the career...

Advocacy and promotion is one of the constant programs of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).  Through the years, and through many directors general, it has tried to project an image to the public through purchase of media block times, information caravans, industry-government organization partnerships, distribution of literature intended for the masses and similar activities.  In all these, there seems to be basic questions in the public's mind it tried and continues to try to answer.  Among them: Is TESDA training?  Even before TESDA became TESDA (that is, before National Manpower and Youth Council, Department of Education's Bureau of Technical Vocational Education (BTVE), and the Department of Labor and Employment's Apprenticeship programs were fused under one authority through Republic Act 7796), the most prominent body for technical training was, well, equivalent to training in the public's mind.  And rightly so.  Co...