McConney: Technical and vocational education as valuable as academics

Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Kay McConney wants the same prominence to be given to technical and vocational education as is currently accorded to academia.

She said technical education should no longer be viewed as though it is “an outside thing” and only suited for those who “can do no better”.

McConney expressed this view on Wednesday while addressing the launch ceremony for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council (TVET) and the Barbados Community College’s (BCC) Technical Degree in Game Art and Animation at the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute.

The minister insisted that technical and vocational training must be integrated as part of Barbados’ system and “treated with equal esteem as we do academic pursuits”.

McConney proffered the view that the degree, the first of its kind for Barbados, has signalled that technical and vocational learning here has “boldly gone where it has never gone before”.

She said the degree was based on research conducted on what the future workforce would look like, and emphasis was placed on the career goals of young people and the link between learning and earning.

Minister McConney further pointed out that the introduction of technical degrees would not only assist the government in addressing the deficiencies in the education system but also present opportunities for teaching and learning in new ways.

“It is important that our education system continues to create pathways…. It has to create pathways for all of you in order to do well. The introduction of this technical degree fits right in with the pathways approach that we’re using as we move towards education transformation, by creating opportunities in areas that had not existed before. Much of what we have talked about so far has focused on what we call the basic education system – nursery, primary, secondary. However, there is a need for major transformation at the tertiary level as well,” the education minister said.

“The proposals that were made to this ministry back in 2019, you are now seeing us take an active step in partnership with our tertiary-level institutions and our post-secondary institutions to be able to make it happen. We really mean business when it comes to technical and vocational training.”
(BGIS)