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Why skills anticipation in African VET systems needs to be decolonized: The wide-spread use and limited value of occupational standards and competency-based qualifications

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  • Allais, Stephanie

Abstract

The shift from manpower-planning to labour market analysis and skills anticipation has been analyzed since the 80 s in this journal and elsewhere, with the aim of improving.insights into how education can contribute to economic growth and development. This paper considers recent trends in policies for skills anticipation and curriculum reform in Africa, with a focus on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems.The data consists of 2 continent-wide surveys of a range of TVET stakeholders, document analysis of skills and TVET policy as well as industrial policy where available.online, and 21 in-depth interviews with key roleplayers and experts in 13 countries. Our research found considerable activity developing pre-determined rules and tools that don’t work in their own right, and are inappropriate for African labour markets because they are not used in formal work, and have little engagement with informal work. A set of ‘rules and tools’, such as occupational standards, qualifications frameworks, and part qualifications/ modularization, is promoted by international organizations. These pre-developed and uniform solutions continues to dominate policy agendas. We found considerable focus on developing and (to some extent) using these rules and tools for forward planning, system improvement, and curriculum design. Most noticeable was a strong emphasis on competency-based qualifications, which are described as a tool for skills anticipation as well as curriculum reform, drawing on employer input into skills requirements. There is considerable focus on employer-identified skills needs as the tool for both understanding current and emerging economic demand for skills as well as medium to longer term skills needs. The dependence on employer-specified competencies means there is little engagement with the reality of informal work in the African context—other than strong rhetorical emphasis on entrepreneurship as an add on in curriculum design. Amongst other problems, the ‘rules and tools’ which are being implemented in many countries start from an idealized vision, and are more preoccupied with their own internal logic than the systems with which they are dealing. The rules and tools present a level playing field for individuals and for countries, constrained only by a lack of skills, and a world view in which everyone could come out on top.

Suggested Citation

  • Allais, Stephanie, 2023. "Why skills anticipation in African VET systems needs to be decolonized: The wide-spread use and limited value of occupational standards and competency-based qualifications," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:102:y:2023:i:c:s0738059323001499
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102873
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Moses Oketch, 2014. "Education Policy, Vocational Training, and the Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-069, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Stijn Broecke, 2012. "Working Paper 158 - Tackling Graduate Unemployment through Employment Subsidies an Assessment of the SIVP Programme in Tunisia," Working Paper Series 430, African Development Bank.
    3. Oketch, Moses, 2014. "Education policy, vocational training, and the youth in Sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 069, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Louise Fox & Alun Thomas, 2016. "Africa's Got Work To Do: A Diagnostic of Youth Employment Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 25(suppl_1), pages 16-36.
    5. Arvil V. Adams & Sara Johansson de Silva & Setareh Razmara, 2013. "Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector : Strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15802, April.
    6. Meschi, Elena & Vivarelli, Marco, 2009. "Trade and Income Inequality in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 287-302, February.
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    1. de Dios Oyarzún, Juan & Ramos Arellano, Marcela, 2024. "Schools and industries producing educational-labor paths in secondary TVET in Chile: Who sets the skills agenda?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    2. Xifeng Liao & Chaoting Xiao & Lang Wei & Lingxia Chen, 2026. "Creating a sustainable vocational education ecosystem from the perspective of enterprise perceptions," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Allais, Stephanie & Marock, Carmel, 2026. "Comfortably numb: Behind the policy push for skill and qualification recognition systems in Southern Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

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