Case study: Creating sustainable change in technical education in Jamaica

• In Event: Mission possible! Understanding and overcoming barriers to technical education in Latin America and the Caribbean

Proposal

One of the best ways to understand the complexity of developing sustainable improvements to technical tertiary education is to hear from actors directly involved with the change process. This paper presents a case study and framework for overcoming access and completion barriers for technical education based on the experience of a technical institution in Jamaica. The paper explores efforts to implement sustainable processes and improvements for degree programs in Digital Media and Entertainment and Events Management.

Students at the technical training institution in Jamaica face situational barriers, institutional barriers, barriers related to academic trajectory, and dispositional barriers. To overcome situational barriers, the institution has implemented a robust scholarships program with student supports and wrap-around services. To overcome institutional barriers, the institution has revised admissions and recruitment practices to ensure that high-potential disadvantaged students are considered for and admitted to degree programs and has completed curricular revisions that make learning more relevant to students’ lives and the labor market. The institution has also provided capacity development training to faculty and staff to ensure that students receive the support they need to remain in programs and graduate. To overcome dispositional and academic trajectory barriers, the institution has strengthened outreach to secondary schools to ensure that students receive adequate career guidance and preparation to lead them to technical degree programs.

These examples of efforts to overcome barriers to access and completion of technical education can be distilled into a 5-component change management framework that includes curriculum enhancement, faculty professional development, career services strengthening, improved recruitment and admissions, and scholarships support. The paper concludes by sharing lessons learned from adapting this framework in Jamaica to better inform similar efforts to overcome these barriers in other technical tertiary institutions in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Author

• Delize Williams, Vocational Training Development Institute