Transforming TVET Education in Belize through Systems Thinking

• In Event: Educational Policy, Social Change and Equity

Proposal

Introduction
Understanding the link between interventions and policy changes to transform an education system is fundamental to ensuring the long-term sustainability of an education project. The proposed presentation will focus on a project in the development phase focused on transforming TVET Education in Belize. A recent analysis in Belize highlighted that "low quality of education has led to a shortage of trained professionals in all industries" (Author, 2022). The findings underscored the need to develop a project to transform the TVET system. These findings raised several questions on how a project could achieve this given the project timeline and budget but, most notably, what would make this project sustainable. The current proposal will explore how the development of this project uses systems thinking in developing the interventions and creating policy changes.
A key element in systems planning is ensuring a holistic approach that includes engaging various stakeholders. A successful education project is to provide a variety of stakeholders committed to contributing varied perspectives and data. The process can be overwhelming if those developing the program focus on analysis versus synthesizing the information and coordinating interventions with the stakeholders. The current development of this project has led to considerable government engagement in considering various policy changes. Policy changes will impact the project's long-term sustainability, allow for greater strength in the program design, and encourage buy-in at the local level.
The topic is relevant to comparative and international education as the issues surrounding education projects are increasingly complex. Focusing on simply analyzing data can often lead to biased interventions or missing key factors that could result in missing at-risk students. The session will allow for sharing ideas on how we utilized systems thinking to develop a specific project and will include clear principles that are translatable for many implementers and program designers.
Methodologies
The proposed presentation is an applied research proposal based on a current project in development. The current project's design incorporates systems thinking to holistically investigate the lack of trained professionals in all industries in Belize and determine potential interventions and project design (Author, 2022). The presentation seeks to do a deep dive into what systems thinking is. Reviewing some of the leading resources currently available on what systems thinking is and providing a clear understanding of how the author incorporated systems thinking into the development of this project. The author will discuss how they structured stakeholder engagement in the development process, the use and types of external data and research, and the method for synthesizing all the inputs.
Contribution to the field
An issue for many programs in the development world is when the funding runs out, the project ends. One strategy for mitigating this is to ensure that the planning and development process includes government support at the policy level that aligns with and supports the program's or project's long-term success. Utilizing Systems Thinking throughout the development process is one of the keys to promoting and ensuring long-term success. While this specific proposal will focus on one project in Belize, the author will focus on how practitioners could utilize this approach more broadly to develop education projects worldwide to achieve long-term sustainability. The author will welcome questions from attendees and encourage discussion and suggestions.

Author

• Leah Passauer, Millennium Challenge Corporation