Skills taught at institutions should be relevant to labour market

In Summary

Given the increasing importance attached to assessing a wider range of competencies (i.e. knowledge, skills, understanding and wider attributes), it is clear that relying on traditional methods of assessment, is not regarded as appropriate means of responding to an ever-increasing demand to provide relevant, quality, and effective education.

Uganda’s transition to a knowledge-based economy requires a new generation of educated and skilled people. The competitive edge will be determined by its people’s ability to create, share and use knowledge effectively. Employers still experience a problem of finding employees with the right skills. In most cases, these shortages are in trades which are supplied by training institutions – implying that our graduates do not meet employers’ needs. Most employers feel that graduates do not perform well enough for instance; in the use of computers, practical use of machines, communications and team work practices. Employers also feel that graduates lack practical knowledge and need significant on-the-job training for their skill levels to match the needs of the industry.

Although education levels have been rising, Uganda still needs to improve education and training quality. While significant improvements will need to be made on quantitative indicators, little is known about qualitative indicators. Providing more education cannot, by itself, be enough – quality and labour market relevance is crucial. The education and skills provided must be relevant to the labour market. Acquiring skills is essential, provided those skills are not outdated or do not meet industry requirements. It is common sense that nowadays companies need meaningful information on what graduates can actually do. In the contemporary world, employers are becoming increasingly concerned with ensuring that their employees have up-to-date competencies and capabilities needed in the world of work.

The goals of education and qualification can no longer be described by a fixed set of specialised skills that are transferable from one generation to the next. Today, knowledge must be applicable to different, new, and complex situations and contexts. It is against this background that the concept of competence has attracted increased research attention. Given the increasing importance attached to assessing a wider range of competencies (i.e. knowledge, skills, understanding and wider attributes), it is clear that relying on traditional methods of assessment, is not regarded as appropriate means of responding to an ever-increasing demand to provide relevant, quality, and effective education.

The enabling environment to realise the competencies is to develop a “real life” project-based curriculum. This will enable students plan, implement, and evaluate projects that have real-world applications beyond the classroom. When Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) took over from UNEB, the mandate of examining of business, technical and other specialised courses in the year 2011, it strongly emphasized assessment based on active engagement in projects.

Learning by doing is recognised as one of the best systems of education in the world today. The good news is that National Curriculum Development Centre has recently rolled out new curricula for technical and business courses incorporating real life projects as assessable course unit.
Together with training institutions, UBTEB has adopted an integrated model of assessment system, which includes a balance of continuous assessment, real life projects, industrial training and written examinations.
UBTEB’s perspective on the shift from assessing a set of learning contents (topics) to assessing every learning outcome in respective curriculum to students in vocational institutions in Uganda, will generate high quality graduates who are able to respond to labour market needs.

Particular benefits of project-based instruction include; preparing students for the workplace where students are exposed to a wide range of skills and competencies such as collaboration, project planning and decision-making.
Secondly, connecting learning at school with reality. Students can gain more knowledge and skills when they are engaged in stimulating projects. With projects, students use higher order thinking skills rather than memorising facts in an isolated context without a connection to how and where they are used in the real world.
Thirdly, projects at school increase motivation. Instructors/trainers often note improvement in attendance, more class participation, and greater willingness to do assignments.

Mr Oyoo is a finance/business education specialist.