Education sector policies and their role in the integration of workplace learning and higher education: A case of Tanzania’s higher technical and engineering education [Scholarly Article - Journal of Adult Learning, Knowledge and Innovation, 2022]

Title:

Education sector policies and their role in the integration of workplace learning and higher education: A case of Tanzania’s higher technical and engineering education

 

Authors:

James Elikana Mmari, Zsuzsa Kovács & Csaba Kálmán

 

Published:

Journal of Adult Learning, Knowledge and Innovation, Volume 4, Issue 2, 1 February 2022

https://doi.org/10.1556/2059.2021.00051

 

Abstract:

Tanzania’s education system has been passing through different changes in its policies and strategic implementation plans. As a result, improvements in various areas, such as increased students’ enrolment rate, improved pass rates, and improved infrastructure at all levels have been realized. This pilot study aimed at understanding the awareness and perception of policymakers, employers, instructors, and students of the importance of policies in integrating workplace learning and technical higher education. With the main question being, how stakeholders in the education sector perceive the importance of policies in integrating workplace learning and technical higher education. In order to answer the above question, a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted with policymakers, employers, instructors, and students. Most of the interviewees stated that policies have significant roles in ensuring the smooth integration and implementation of these two learning modes. On the other side, several challenges were mentioned in policy implementation and realization of the strategic plans. These challenges were categorized as those related to the public’s and students’ awareness and readiness, financial constraints, educational institutes’ readiness, and operationalization of the organizations and educational institutes. From this pilot study, insightful information is gained on the importance of having policies that take into account all main stakeholders in higher education.

 

Educational policies in response to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus in Latin America: An integrative documentary review [Scholarly Article - Frontiers in Education, August 2022]

Title:

Educational policies in response to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus in Latin America: An integrative documentary review

 

Authors:

Josefina Amanda Suyo-Vega1*, Monica Elisa Meneses-La-Riva2, Víctor Hugo Fernández-Bedoya3*, Maricela Alarcón-Martínez1, Hitler Giovanni Ocupa-Cabrera1, Sofía Almendra Alvarado-Suyo4, Ana da Costa Polonia5 & Angélica Inês Miotto5 

 

1 School of Education, Universidad César Vallejo, Lima, Peru 

2 School of Nursing, Universidad César Vallejo, Lima, Peru 

3 School of Management, Universidad César Vallejo, Lima, Peru 

4 School of Audiovisual Communication and Interactive Media, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Lima, Peru 

5 School of Education, Centro Universitário Euro-Americano, São Paulo, Brazil

 

Published:

Frontiers in Education, 1 August 2022

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.918220/full

 

Abstract:

Educational policies in the face of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus took an unexpected turn in Latin America. Virtuality constituted a key opportunity for the continuity of basic fundamental services in the citizen’s right to education. The objective of this research was to analyze the educational public policies adopted by governments in Latin America in the face of the pandemic. The methodology was an integrative documentary review of the main international organizations whose documents provided relevant information on the actions to be implemented in fourteen Latin American countries. The results obtained show that the priority was to reestablish the continuity of educational services using mass communication resources, such as radio, television, digital platforms, making visible the inequity in the access to the Internet at home. It was also identified a deficiency in the competencies and digital resources of the educational community, dis-crimination and inclusion of people with some type of disability or different languages, especially in urban or rural areas because they do not have technological means. It was concluded that the educational policies in Latin America proposed during the COVID-19 period were designed with-out a real situational diagnosis in each country, to meet the demands of urban and rural areas in an equitable manner with the will of governments, providing budgets and resources that benefit the educational community, as an achievement of state policies.