Importance of TVET in Addressing Changes in the Jamaican Tourism Industry

Sheldon ThomasVice Principal – Ferncourt High School, Claremont, St. Ann

Master of Philosophy Student – Faculty of Humanities and Education University of the West Indies, Mona

Introduction

Tourism is one of the largest growing economic sectors in the world with an increasing number of destinations worldwide opening up to, and investing in this industry.

(United Nations World Tourism Organization 2014)

It is one of the opportunities available for economic transformation and sustainable job creation in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. (Morris H.A. 2013)

Introduction

• Economic impact of the tourism industry is significant as it creates linkage that add value to other economic sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, entertainment, public utilities and infrastructure.

(Tourism Task Force, 2009)

Introduction

Vision 2030 Jamaica states a vision of an inclusive, world-class, distinctly Jamaican tourism industry with a well-educated, highly-skilled and motivated workforce at all levels within a safe, secure and sustainable managed environment (PIOJ, 2009).

TVET will continue to play an important role in achieving this vision for the tourism industry.

This requires a dynamic and flexible demand-driven TVET system to address the changes happening in the Jamaican tourism industry.

Outline of Presentation

• International Outlook on Tourism • Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism •Current State of TVET to Prepare Persons for Tourism Industry•Challenges in the TVET System •Recommendations to address challenges in TVET system

International Outlook on Tourism

•United Nations World Tourism Organization (2011) predicted that by 2030• International tourist arrivals will reach 1.8 billion • Five million people will be crossing international borders for leisure, business or other purposes every day.

International Outlook on Tourism

• Despite ongoing global economic challenges and geopolitical changes.

• Demand for international tourism exceeded expectations in 2013 with an increase of 5% (1,035 million in 2012) in international tourist arrivals reaching a record of 1087 million worldwide.

(United Nations World Tourism Organization 2014)

International Outlook on Tourism

• Top 5 spenders in international tourism are 1. China2. United States of America3. Germany4. Russia 5. United Kingdom

• China leapt to first place in the ranking in 2012• Extended its lead further in 2013 with a gap of expenditure

over US $42 billion between itself and second and third largest spenders

International Outlook on Tourism

• Global trend is not in the direction of sea and sand tourism, but in other areas such as heritage, cultural, attraction and green tourism. • The new type of tourists are increasingly aware about the importance of respecting the environment and interested in ‘going green’ • Training for tourism must not be restricted to hospitality but include other areas such as social and natural sciences and humanities.

Boxill (2004)

Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism

Source: Jamaica Tourist Board. 2013. Annual Travel Statistics, p.5.

Stopover Visitors by Market Share 2010-2013Stopover Visitors by Market Share 2010-2013

Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism Stopover Visitors by Market Share 2010-2013

• The increases in tourism stopovers were due to • Ministry of Tourism and its agency Jamaica Tourist Board in

tapping into new markets and strengthening traditional ones.• Government’s relaxation of visa requirement for tourists

from a number of new markets• Partnerships forged with Condor Airlines to provide service

to Jamaica out of Sweden and Germany and Russian airlines – Air Transaero to access markets in some 40 central and eastern European countries

(McIntosh, 2014a).

Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism

Source: Jamaica Tourist Board. 2013. Annual Travel Statistics, p.36.

Stopover Arrivals by Purpose of Visit by % Shares

Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism Stopover Arrivals by Purpose of Visit by % Shares

• There are plans for further diversification of the tourism market to include •sports•cultural•medical •heritage tourism.

Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism

• Index measures the factors and policies identified to develop countries’ travel and tourism sector in terms of: • regulatory framework• business environment and

infrastructure • human, cultural and natural resources

Year Rank

2013 67

2011 65

2009 60

Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index Ranking

Source: World Economic Forum (2013 and 2011)

Jamaica’s Performance in Tourism Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index Ranking

Indicator 2013 2011

  Score/7 Rank/140 Score/7 Rank/139

Education and Training 4.5 80 4.3 88

Quality of the education system

3.6

75

3.2

98

Local availability specialized

research and training 3.9

 

81 3.5

 

99

Extent of staff training 4.1 58 4.2 49Source: World Economic Forum (2013). The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013

Current State of TVET to Prepare Persons for the Tourism Industry

TVET Integration in School System

• The Ministry of Education has a TVET policy to provide a national framework for the development and sustainability of TVET in the Jamaican education and training system (Ministry of Education, 2014)

•Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites outlined in December 2014 that by 2016/17 academic year, every Grade 11 student must sit a TVET subject in an external examination (McIntosh, 2014b).

• In addition to CSEC, students at the grades 10 and 11 level will be prepared for certification with the National Vocational Qualifications Jamaica and the Caribbean Vocational Qualifications. • The Career Advancement Programme (CAP) at sixth form level is an expanded education and training programme that places students in a career path and certify them for employment (Ministry of Education, 2013).

TVET Integration in School System

HEART Trust/NTA• The operational plan is focused on • Training for capacity building in sectors including tourism and

agriculture which have been tagged as strategic areas for national growth and development in the Vision 2030 plan.

• The rebranded HEART institutions will deliver training with • Little or no classroom theoretical sessions through more

multimedia interactions and more emphasis on experimentation • Development of entrepreneurial skills and internship.

(Morris, A. 2011).

TEAM JAMAICA • Tourism Product Development Company has a partnership with HEART Trust/NTA in financing training in “Team Jamaica”.• The objective of the programme is to develop and implement a

standardized compulsory training programme for persons who work directly in the tourism sector.

• The components of the programme • customer service, • product knowledge, • Jamaica’s history and geography and • environmental awareness

(Howell-Williams and Haye, 2006).

Financing of TVET• In the public schools, TVET is financed mostly by the government and to lesser extent private sectors.• Over 70% of the labour force is untrained and the level of funding available is inadequate to finance the training required.• Based on quarterly labour force survey for April 2013, 24.2%

of the total labour force have vocational or professional certification which was an increase of 1.6 percentage points from 22.6% in the April 2012 survey.

PIOJ (2013)

Some Challenges in Current TVET System

Financing of TVET•Schools within the region and country face resource problems in implementing CVQ in schools.

• Equipment in many cases are outdated and in many cases not operational. • This can affect the validity of the qualification,

especially if the quality assurance procedures and facility standards are not sound.

(Eastmond, 2011)

Some Challenges in Current TVET System

Financing of TVET• “Small enterprises however tend to place less emphasis on training, either because of a lack of financial or human resources, or lack of interest on the part of the owner/manager” (Ford-Warner (2006), p. 100).

Some Challenges in Current TVET System

Qualifications Framework • Jamaica is to create a single national qualifications framework to integrate all qualifications across the education and training systems in terms of content and complexity to establish equivalencies.• This will ensure that all training programmes in Jamaica conform to established global standards and provide recognition and credit for previous knowledge and skills.

(PIOJ, 2009)

Challenges in Current TVET System

Misalignment of Training Programmes to Market Needs• PIOJ (2009) states in Vision 2030: Jamaica National Development Plan:

Training is often not relevant to new demands and is inadequate in some cases to quickly address the changing needs in the workplace.

More emphasis needs to be placed on training for job growth especially in the areas of hospitality, construction, and information communications technology. (p. 65)

Challenges in Current TVET System

Recommendations to Address Challenges in TVET system

Recommendation 1

• TVET system must promote a culture of entrepreneurship. Jamaicans will be expected to demonstrate skills in entrepreneurship to develop business and employment opportunities for the country.• There is an attempt by institutions such as HEART Trust/NTA to set up workforce colleges to provide services for small and medium enterprises. • However, this needs to be standard for more institutions that offer vocational programmes to provide these services to prospective and present entrepreneurs.

Recommendation 2

• Education system needs to continue its transformation, so that it will become a norm for every single Jamaican to receive at least a solid secondary education to equip students to acquire advanced knowledge, skills and attitude including TVET.• It is important that education programmes including TVET should develop students' “soft skills” so that they can develop personal qualities such as team work, punctuality, and initiatives etc. to work in a dynamic workforce.

Recommendation 3

• TVET must improve its relevance by advancing the ‘greening TVET’ agenda to address environmental issues. There are new employment opportunities available through the eco-tourism as another type of tourism product and measures to protect the environment. • ‘Greening TVET’ is important to ensure the sustainability of our environment as there are tourism products that depend on natural resources.

Recommendation 4

• The preparation of the national qualifications framework must continue to involve stakeholders so that they will associate themselves with it when being implemented. • This will improve the status of TVET as learners progress from one stage of certification to another.

Recommendation 5

• TVET must be given equal status as general education and must be made available in the formal education system. • This requires a marketing campaign to improve TVET status to parents, teachers and students on its contribution to economic development.• Successful persons in the TVET field may become ambassadors to promote TVET in schools through speeches, visits and media campaign to motivate persons on the importance of this form of education to national development.

Recommendation 6

• There is need for more partnerships between education and training institutions and industries in the country. • Financing for TVET is an expensive investment as technology changes, hence the need to upgrade facilities to match the needs of industry. • Industries could adopt a school and provide financial resources through sponsorship or donations to ensure that the TVET programme runs effectively.

Recommendation 6

• There is need for more partnerships between education and training institutions and industries in the country. • Continuous collection of labour market information from employers so that steps can either be put in place to revamp present courses or add additional ones to address the changes in the market.

Recommendation 7

• Need for teaching of additional foreign languages in high schools as the Jamaican government continues to diversify its market to attract tourists from countries such as Russia and China. • The use of short courses to acquaint current workforce in new languages must continue. • There will be a problem of availability of language teachers to provide training in schools. Therefore, linkages must be made with institutions that can offer these languages to present and future tourism and hospitality trainees.

Conclusion

• TVET plays an important role in preparing the present and future workforce for the changes occurring in the tourism industry. However, there are challenges in the current TVET system. These issues must be addressed in order to have an effective TVET system.• An attempt has been made by the Government of Jamaica and other stakeholders in preparing Vision 2030 Jamaica National Development Plan document to improve tourism and education and training systems in the country.

Conclusion

• Stakeholders should ensure that this plan is implemented, recommendations are considered and possibly implemented to address the challenges affecting the tourism industry.

THANK YOU

References

• Boxhill, I. 2004. Towards an alternative tourism for Jamaica. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.16 (4), 269-272. doi: 10.1108/09596110410537432

• Eastmond, H. 2011. Issues and challenges in the implementation of the CVQ in the Caribbean. The Caribbean Examiner. 9(1), 22-25

• Ford-Warner, K. 2006. Challenges to growth in the Caribbean tourism industry: the education and training of our tourism workforce. In K. Hall, Tourism: the driver of change in the Jamaican economy (pp. 93-102). Retrieved from Caribbean Search database

• Howell-Williams, V., and A. Haye (Eds). 2006. Team Jamaica Handbook (3rd edition). Tourism Product Development Company

• McIntosh, D. 2014a. 2013 A Successful year for tourism sector. Retrieved from http://jis.gov.jm/2013-successful-year-tourism-sector/

• McIntosh, D. 2014b. Rev. Thwaites commends CXC for expanding technical and vocational Subjects. Retrieved from http://jis.gov.jm/rev-thwaites-commends-cxc-expanding-technical-vocational-subjects/

References

• Ministry of Education. 2014. National policy for technical vocational education and training. Kingston .Author.

• Morris, A. 2011. HEART Trust rebrands institution. Jamaica Observer 17 April 2011. Retrieved from http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/HEART-Trust-rebrands-institutions_8611233

• Morris, H. A. (2013) Current options for economic transformation and sustainable job creation: Internal action. Chapter in the Integrationist: Economic Transformation and Job Creation - The Caribbean Experience. Editors: Hall, K. and Chuck-A-Sang, M. Trafford Publishers, USA

• Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). 2009. Vision 2030 Jamaica national development plan. Kingston, Jamaica

• PIOJ. 2013. Vision 2030 Jamaica Update. 6(3). Retrieved on December 2, 2013 from http://pioj.gov.jm/Portals/0/Social_Sector/NEWSLETTER%20JULY-SEPT%202013.pdf

References

• Tourism Task Force. 2009. Vision 2030: Tourism sector plan 2009-2030. Retrieved on November 30, 2013 from http://www.dawgen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Microsoft-Word-Vision-2030-Jamaica-Final-Draft-Tourism-Sector-Plan-_Sep%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%C2%A6.pdf

• UNWTO. 2011. Tourism towards 2030: A global overview. Retrieved from http://ictur.sectur.gob.mx/descargas/Publicaciones/Boletin/cedoc2012/cedoc2011/unwto2030.pdf

• UNWTO. 2014. Annual report 2013. Retrieved from http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/pdf/unwto_annual_report_2013_0.pdf

• World Economic Forum. 2013. The travel & tourism competiveness report 2013: Reducing barriers to economic growth and job creation. Blanke J and Chiesa T (Eds.). Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TT_Competitiveness_Report_2013.pdf