Reflections on Colonial Legacy and Dependency in Indian Vocational Education and Training (VET): A societal and cultural perspective
The article by Singh examines centre-periphery relations in terms of colonial legacy in the field of technical and vocational education in India. Colonial neglect of vocational education had the effect of destroying existing indigenous systems of vocational learning that were embedded in distinctive local socioeconomic and cultural contexts. This legacy has continued even after India's Independence and is strongly reflected in manpower development plans and discourses of international agencies, which cater primarily to the needs of the formal economy. However, as the informal economy increasingly comes to be seen as the key ground both for economic growth and poverty eradication, so the ability of education and training to promote informal sector activities needs to come to the fore even further in government and agency concerns. The article draws upon empirical studies to provide a comprehensive picture of the educational processes and the competency people in the informal economy want, need and utilise. For, if vocational training and education is to cater to both the formal and informal labour markets, then it is necessary to learn from the periphery and to take into account the traditions and values of the system of vocational learning in working life. What the author describes for India has applicability for many countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Skills development in the informal sector in India: The case of street food vendors
The informal sector dominates India’s economic life, so issues of skills development are particularly important. On the basis of a survey of 49 street food vendors in the Indian cities of New Delhi and Coimbatore, the authors of this article demonstrate that informal learning is a particularly significant form of vocational education and training. Vendors do not acquire skills in formal vocational education and training (VET) settings; for them, opportunities for learning on the job in family businesses or in informal employment are especially important. Unlike other studies, the authors’ findings show that street food vendors have a wide range of specialist knowledge, skills and expertise required to conduct their business which they deploy profitably. These skills are not confined to preparing and selling food but also extend to areas such as price setting and marketing. All the street food vendors interviewed identified strongly with their occupation and expressed pride in it. Around half voiced a wish for further training. In this context, the authors suggest promoting non-formal learning settings geared explicitly to street food vendors’ difficult working conditions. In line with a few other international innovative schemes, they term this a “non-formal apprenticeship” approach.RésuméDéveloppement des compétences dans le secteur informel de l’Inde : le cas des vendeurs ambulants – Le secteur informel domine la vie économique indienne, le développement des compétences y est donc particulièrement important. À partir d’une enquête menée auprès de 49 vendeurs ambulants de produits alimentaires dans les villes de New Delhi et Coimbatore, les auteurs de cet article démontrent que l’apprentissage informel est une forme particulièrement efficace d’enseignement et de formation professionnels. Ces travailleurs ne sont pas formés dans les structures formelles de l’enseignement et de la formation professionnels (EFP), les opportunités d’apprendre sur le tas dans le commerce familial ou dans l’emploi informel sont donc pour eux décisifs. Contrairement à d’autres études, les auteurs constatent que les vendeurs ambulants en alimentation possèdent un large éventail de connaissances, compétences et savoirs spécialisés, nécessaires pour mener leur activité qu’ils exercent avec profit. Ces compétences ne se limitent pas à préparer et à vendre des produits alimentaires, mais touchent aussi des domaines tels que la fixation des prix et le marketing. Tous les vendeurs interrogés déclarent s’identifier fortement à leur travail et en être fiers. Environ la moitié ont exprimé le souhait d’une formation complémentaire. À ce sujet, les auteurs proposent de promouvoir des structures non formelles d’apprentissage adaptées explicitement aux conditions de travail difficiles des vendeurs ambulants. S’alignant sur quelques autres projets internationaux innovants, ils appellent cette approche « apprentissage professionnel non formel ».
The Necessity of Comparisons in the Study of Education: The Salience of Science and the Problem of Comparability
Traditionally, presidential addresses at CIES annual meetings have attempted to assess the "state of the art" of comparative and international education, typically suggesting that we are still far from God, if not close to the devil, and to offer some suggestions intended to increase our degree of saintliness. I am enough of a student of educational planning and educational reform efforts to realize that there are dangers attendant to breaking with tradition, and enough of an Ontario Tory to believe that some traditions are worth upholding. I do not promise to bring you any closer to God, though I do hope these next few minutes will not be a foretaste of purgatory. In recent years society presidents have told us many times that our theoretical work must be more explicit and rigorous, and less embedded in traditional theoretical constructs, and have offered us a variety of specific problems, or classes of problems, upon which to focus our work.' We have in these last few years largely abandoned our concern with a set of "grand questions" which preoccupied members of the field in its early years. Is comparative education a discipline? With which other social sciences does it, or ought it to, have the closest links? How "quantitative" should comparative studies be? We have in a sense replaced these with a new set of "grand questions." What is the appropriate theoretical base for the field? To which key policy questions can we most fruitfully direct our attention? Debate on those earlier questions dwindled as we became convinced that there neither were, nor had to be, final universal answers to them. The latter set of questions likewise requires no definitive answers for our field to thrive. There is room for a variety of theoretical orientations; what is important is that the theoretical work be explicit and rigorous. There are a host of significant policy-related questions upon which we can usefully concentrate; the success of the enterprise will be