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ON NEW APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN B. Abdykarimov,
N. I. Rakhimzhanova
The review of the existing system of technical and vocational education (hereinafter "TVE") to be performed by local and international consultants began in June 2007 in the framework of the Agreement between the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the World Bank on the assistance in the preparation of a project for technical and vocational education. The World Bank's team fully supports the statement that "the improvement of workforce necessitates the creation of new approaches to the system of training and professional education of workers, which should be flexible and adaptable to the changing economic and technological realities".
However, the current system still has a lot of unsolved issues and alternatives which have to be closely examined and reviewed. Unfortunately, there is a gap between the skills demanded by the labor market and the capabilities of the existing TVE system to provide the developing sectors of the economy with specialists under the current vocational programs. This is one of the reasons why the graduates from vocational lyceums and colleges do not meet the current needs of the labor market and the requirements of the dynamic and changing economic situation. Moreover, the training of blue-collars is influenced by the following factors: (a) the crisis underwent by the system due to the drop in the quality of training because of deterioration of the material and technical facilities; (b) lack of skilled teaching staff; (c) lack of training materials, outdated equipment and lack of finance. As a result, we observed the reduced prestige of the TVE system and insufficient interest of the employers in participating and supporting it. Before a new document on the long-term TVE development is adopted, it is necessary to seriously consider the implementation of a program for a comprehensive investigation of the existing TVE system.
As the branches of industry actively invest in the development of their technological and innovative capacities, the demand of the labor market for employees with a wide range of basic and applied skills increases. Today, a young worker needs to have not only knowledge of foreign languages, mathematics and natural sciences, but also other competencies such as
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the ability to communicate with colleagues, perceive and use information properly, manage resources and work in team. It is well-known that knowledge becomes the main economic recourse of society; therefore, general secondary education in many countries - and higher education in some most technically developed countries - gradually acquires the wide-scale nature. The previous opposition between vocational and general education at the level of secondary school was resolved by a compromise. Even the countries that decided to upgrade the level of secondary school leavers in accordance with the requirements of the labor market by the introduction of vocational training in the curricula admit that high-quality general educational knowledge is the main component of education.
The existing TVE system in Kazakhstan is capable of training specialists with specific skills for one specific job. A new, more large-scale system should aim to achieve far-reaching goals, that is, ensure an employee's career development, as well as an opportunity to continue education and get higher education in the chosen profession. The main areas of reforms in the TVE system should be oriented towards the development of a curriculum for general secondary education, which would include a single standard of general education for all specialized training programs. The program should also promote the new structure and curriculum for postsecondary education and aim to design and implement the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of the results in order to improve the quality of the new TVE system. The structure of the new program will be as follows: improve the working capacity of young people, improve qualification of workers in different sectors of the economy, develop "human resources" in Kazakhstan and develop the capacities for retraining and continuation of education.
The main goal of the program is to improve the working capacity of young people, develop their abilities for further skills improvement; and offer the employers workforce with competitive skills and competencies. The progress in achieving this goal can be evaluated by the following indicators: (1) the level of youth employment; (2) the involvement of the TVE graduates in continuing training programs; (3) the degree of the employers' satisfaction with professional skills and competencies of the TVE graduates. The state TVE program aims to modernize the existing TVE system, so that it conforms to the requirements of the employers and interests of the students. Modernization will encompass the following levels of education:
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secondary school: the programs for technical and vocational disciplines will be developed and fully integrated into general secondary education. These programs will provide a wide range of professional skills, as well as flexible patterns of postsecondary education;
postsecondary education: the specialized programs for vocational skills will be developed to clearly define the patterns of career advancement.
In general, the new system will provide the students with a modern methodology for evaluation of their professional skills, while the employers will get a transparent system for diagnosing the graduates' abilities, which will simplify decision-making associated with staff recruitment.
One of the important problems associated with the human resources development in private sector is professional training on the basis of shortterm courses. At the moment, the national capacities for providing a proper level of workforce training for small and medium-sized businesses are limited. There are several reasons why vocational education, which is focused on the needs of young people, does not meet the requirements of employers. The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Education" and the practice of one-year courses provide an opportunity to create a staff training system, which would be separated from secondary vocational education and aim to satisfy the needs of employers in small and mediumsized business. The results of the sociological surveys carried out at the enterprises of Karaganda Region show that there is an acute need for skilled workers in occupations, training for which is provided by the TVE system. For example, 48% of the enterprises which took part in the survey noted that they would need workers in the following occupations: gas welders, electric welders and electric welders on semi-automatic machines. 52% of the enterprises did not answer to this question. This means that they neither have a development plan, nor a program for retraining and reeducation of workers and specialists. 39% of the enterprises engaged in the survey performed and perform scheduled retraining of workers on a regular basis; 42% of the enterprises provide retraining occasionally; and 19% of the enterprises do not provide retraining at all. The majority of large enterprises understand the importance of the on-job training and retraining, but funds allocated for these purposes are not sufficient.
There are several approaches to improving the flexibility of the TVE system. The first approach is to utilize equipment, technology and human resources more efficiently. For example, education institutions might be granted the right to use part of the budget allocations at their discretion, for
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example, to hire instructors on a temporary basis and develop training programs. This can ensure a more flexible response to the needs of the labor market;
The second approach is to enhance organizational autonomy of the providers of educational services by decentralization or corporatization and engagement of specialists from industry. Thirdly, the TVE system provided with significant financial, material and intellectual resources has more opportunities for flexible management. For example, the availability of well-developed educational and planning documents and highly skilled teaching staff can contribute to reducing time for the adaptation of the TVE system to the changing requirements of the labor market.
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