CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 25 June) — The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Mindanao Technical-Vocational Association or MinTVET are joining hands in the implementation of the Level 5 Qualifications in the tech-voc education program, in accordance with the Philippine Qualifications Framework.
“The end-result of the Level 5 qualifications enhance employability, and not just to ladderize (the student’s level) to college,” said TESDA 11 Regional Director Dr. Gaspar Gayona in an interview with MindaNews.
TECH-VOC. TESDA Regional Director Dr. Gaspar Gayona of Region 11 discusses with school administrators of tech-voc institutions from four Mindanao regions essential considerations to curriculum development for TVET Diploma Level 5 on Saturday, June 25, 2016 in Cagayan de Oro City. MindaNews photo by FRENCIE CARREON
Gayona is joined here by Directors Lorenzo Macapili of Region 9 and Edgar Sales of host Region 10, in a two-day training-workshop at the De Luxe Hoel here on on TVET Curriculum Development as an initial step to establish the employment pathway of learners from senior high school who take tech-voc education before or after tertiary education.
Skills in leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, supervisory, and decision-making are among the essentials for a graduate to attain the Level 5 Qualifications, which is for a Diploma Course.
“Currently, TESDA is issuing a National Certificate to those who have attended the formal education and those who have gone directly to industries and acquired the knowledge and skills to gain what would later be considered as ‘prior learning’,” Macapili said. But under the present set-up of basic education following the K to 12 system, the latter’s implementation affected techvoc institutions and techvoc education and skills training programs.
“MinTVET has to fast track the diploma curriculum Level 5 Qualifications, integrating technical education with skills development,” said Gayona, as he cited the need to review instructional design to benefit extensively the learners as they are prepared for the employment demands of the industries that would be hiring them.
“This was already done in Davao, Zamboanga, and in Region 12. Now it is time for Region 10,” Gayona shared, adding that “this is the last.”
Director Sales also said, “With the adoption of the Qualifications System, we will change the Qualifications System. It’s the number of (learning) hours, no longer the (prescription of) two years or three years. “Students can then complete their qualifications in a shorter period of time.”
“The Level 5 Qualifications are upskilling the unemployed, progression to higher education, for a heterogenous group of learners, with learning outcomes considered as work in progress,” said Macapili. “We are trying to avoid repetition and overlapping of qualifications, because we would want to create national coherence in the educational system. The current qualifications do not provide sufficient qualifications to employers. We want to improve the transparency in the delivery of education. “
Macapili whose area covers the entire Zamboanga Peninsula and Isabela City in Basilan, emphasized that TESDA is “reducing the mismatch between education and the labor market.” Gayona, whose area includes the entire Davao region, urged techvoc institutions to deliver techvoc education and skills training with an “aim for employability, and not for professionalism,” because that is what the learner has come to the training service providers for.
This move by TESDA leans on the Philippine Qualifications Framework, which serves as the beacon of TESDA and all agencies involved in education now, said Sales, whose area covers the entire Northern Mindanao.
The two-day event is organized by the MinTVET, headed by President Rey Albano, BeMix Consultancy Services, and project manager Dr. Marycel Engracia, in partnership with TESDA. Sixty representatives from schools in four regions, including the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and the CARAGA Region. (Frencie Carreon/MindaNews)
