school enterprises: combining vocational learning with production

Projet internationalpour l'enseignement technique etprofessionnelInternational Project on Technical and Vocational Education

School Enterprises:Combining Vocational Learning

with Production

Madhu Singh

The International Project on Technical and Vocational Education (UNEVOC) is a project of theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).Its purpose is to contribute to the development and improvement of technical and vocational education in Member States.

UNEVOC works in three programme areas:• Programme Area A deals with the international exchange of experience and the promotion of studies on policy issues.

It is devoted to system development in technical and vocational education.• Programme Area B is devoted to strengthening national research and development capabilities, that is to the

development of infrastructures.• Programme Area C concerns access to data bases and documentation, and strengthening of the UNEVOC network, in

other words, with information and communication.

Under Programme Area A, one of the UNEVOC activities is to identify, analyse and disseminate information aboutsuccessful practices of management and financing of technical and vocational education institutions through the concept ofschool enterprises, where vocational learning and production are being combined. This study presents the findings.

•••

Ms Madhu Singh, Ph.D., is a sociologist and educationalist. She has been involved in issues relating to adultvocational learning as a lecturer in sociology of education at the Institute of Education, Poona, India, and at theUniversity of London Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom. Her doctoral work at the TechnicalUniversity in Berlin, Germany, is on vocational training for and in the informal sector in New Delhi. She iscurrrently working at the UNESCO Institute for Education in Hamburg, Germany.

•••

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of UNESCO.The designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on thepart of the UNESCO Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, orconcerning the delineation of its frontiers or boundaries.

•••

This document was prepared and processed by UNESCO’s UNEVOC Implementation Unit in Berlin,with the editorial assistance of Mr Jim Sullivan.

Mailing address: UNESCO-UNEVOC • Fehrbelliner Platz 3 • D-10707 Berlin • Germany� [+49] (30) 86 49 15 41 • Electronic Mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

WorldWideWeb: http://www.unevoc.de

© UNESCO 1998

Document Nr ED/IUG/015

Projet internationalpour l'enseignement technique etprofessionnelInternational Project on Technical and Vocational Education

School Enterprises:Combining Vocational Learning

with Production

Madhu Singh

Contents Page 1

Contents

Preface .................................................................................................................................3

1 Key Issues and Hypotheses.............................................................................................51.1 Economic, educational and social objectives of school enterprises ...........................................................7

1.2 Need for case studies................................................................................................................................... 9

1.3 The conceptual framework.......................................................................................................................... 9

1.4 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 10

2 Case Studies ..................................................................................................................112.1 China ......................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.2 India........................................................................................................................................................... 13

2.3 Indonesia ................................................................................................................................................... 21

2.4 Papua New Guinea .................................................................................................................................... 23

2.5 Germany .................................................................................................................................................... 24

2.6 Botswana ................................................................................................................................................... 26

2.7 Kenya and Ghana ...................................................................................................................................... 28

2.8 Algeria....................................................................................................................................................... 28

2.9 Cuba and Costa Rica ................................................................................................................................. 28

3 Conclusions and Guidelines ........................................................................................ 303.1 Rough typology of school enterprises....................................................................................................... 30

3.2 Structures of school enterprises ................................................................................................................ 31

3.3 Organisation of learning............................................................................................................................ 31

3.4 Competency profile, learning outcomes and learning goals ..................................................................... 36

3.5 Curricular processes .................................................................................................................................. 38

3.6 Teaching staff............................................................................................................................................ 42

3.7 Regulatory framework of school enterprises ............................................................................................ 44

3.8 External relations ...................................................................................................................................... 46

3.9 Impact of school enterprises...................................................................................................................... 48

3.10 Financial options for school enterprises.................................................................................................... 49

3.11 Mixes of private and public roles.............................................................................................................. 52

3.12 Factors that may enhance school enterprises ............................................................................................ 55

Bibliography..................................................................................................................... 59

Preface Page 3

Preface

Close linkages between technical and vocational education and the world of work are of primary importance tothe relevance of education for the world of work.

There are many ways to establish such linkages. UNESCO has, within its UNEVOC Project, sponsored a seriesof studies on existing approaches to cooperation between technical and vocational education institutions and theworld of work. These studies have been carried out and published on various countries in Africa, the ArabStates, and Europe.

Furthermore, seminars on cooperation between educational institutions and the world of work in technical andvocational education were held for Asian and African participants (Berlin, Germany, 1995; Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso, 1997).

The present study “School Enterprises: Combining Vocational Learning with Production” is another effort todisseminate information on modalities and experiences on interaction of educational institutions with the worldof work.

Two issues have inspired the present study in particular:• linking the process of technical and vocational education to real work and market situations, and• self-financing mechanisms for technical and vocational education institutions.The first aspect relates directly to the mission of technical and vocational education, including the need toincorporate entrepreneurial skills and know-how into vocational programmes. The second aspect is becomingincreasingly important as many governments find it difficult to supply their institutions of vocational learningwith the funds required for their operation.

The case studies documented in this publication have been identified by the author or through direct communi-cation with selected institutions. Others have been communicated to UNESCO in response to a call for casestudies published in issue 10 of the newsletter UNEVOC INFO 10: We wish to thank all those who havecontributed by readily supplying documentation.

The study provides insight into features and characteristics of school enterprises of various types and in a varietyof environments. Thus others can benefit from their experiences. However, education systems, economic andlegal environments as well as political and administrative parameters vary from country to country and evenwithin countries. There may be reservations, e.g., relating to the problem of child labour, or to unfair competitionbetween public or semi-public educational institutions and private enterprise in a market economy. Therefore,tailor-made adaptation is required rather than mere transfer of experience.

Readers are invited to draw their own conclusions from the materials presented.

Hans KrönnerChiefUNESCO-UNEVOCImplementation Unit Berlin

Key Issues and Hypotheses Page 5

1 Key Issues and Hypotheses

Changing economic environment

The world is experiencing major changes in patterns ofproduction and trade as well as dramatic innovations intechnologies. Producers of goods and services arehaving to operate in a global context where openingeconomies to competition is the key to success. Thiscompetitive situation is affecting modes of production.In a more competitive economy, productivity, qualityand flexibility are more important for the success ofproduction systems than reduced wages. Firms areexpected to allocate resources more efficiently toincrease productivity. In order to compete inter-nationally, they have to develop their technologicaland managerial systems. And, finally, they are ex-pected to respond to a competitive environment byproducing quality goods and to meet the demand fornew products. These factors demand that labour behighly mobile and flexible in adopting new skills.

Both developed and developing countries alike are,however, unlikely to be able to adapt quickly enoughto the demands of a more competitive global economy.This has resulted in the shortage of qualified workersfor the new industries and modes of production as wellas in the displacement of labour. An increasing pro-portion of the working population of the world isemployed in micro-enterprises of the informal sector.This development is reinforced by a simultaneous cut-back in state responsibility as a consequence of eco-nomic reform policies.

Implications for skill development

Changes in the nature of work, the technologies ofproduction, and in standards for manufacturing andagriculture have pedagogical and educational pre-requisites. The traditional workplace required teachersto convey knowledge emphasising factual information.It did not matter that learning was segmented from theeconomic and work context. With new and complexinputs to factor into a production equation, otheroperations become necessary (complex literacy skills,writing ability, and basic knowledge of mathematics,science, chemistry and biology). These so-called ‘hardskills’ are more important as the workplace seems tobe profoundly changing.

Meanwhile mixes of general and technical skills arechanging at all levels as new technologies penetratenot only the urban but also the rural sectors in thedeveloping countries. There is evidence that manydeveloping countries are facing the problem of lackingskills that are highly developed elsewhere. Even at thecraft and artisan skill levels, they are lacking cadres of

journeymen equipped to serve as masters to newapprentices.

While general education competencies play a greaterpart than ever before in facilitating skill acquisition, inthe preparation of students for further learning over alifetime, and adjustment to change at all levels in theeconomic structure, there needs to be a technical andvocational education system in place in which schoolsmight provide specialised vocational training in tradi-tional and newly-emerging skills needed for existingjobs and production practices, and which encouragesself/wage employment and improves its productivity.With the increasing importance of the informal sector,processes of training aimed at providing employmentdeserve more attention. This includes the question ofhow technical and vocational training can be designedso as to be job-specific, vocationally specialised, anddirectly linked to employment. In other words: howcan education and training contribute to people beingbetter able to survive in the market and react better tochanging market situations?

Shortcomings of technical and vocationaleducation systems

These changes in skill requirements necessitate thattechnical and vocational education systems shouldensure an adequate amount and quality of training.Overall trends, however, point to the fact that publictechnical and vocational education institutions oftenhave not had a good record in efficiency and flexibilityand sometimes are far removed from market realities.The majority of students are pursuing a vocationaltraining that is unlikely to lead to the full-time wageemployment they seek. This is especially the case forwomen. There is little or no attempt to cater for theneeds of those who wish to continue living andworking in rural areas or those who are compelled tojoin the urban informal sector. At the same time, thegraduates are out of touch with the working conditionsand technical possibilities in small and micro-enter-prises.

Furthermore, budget allocations to technical and voca-tional education have often decreased so dramaticallyand, in view of the high costs associated with thelatter, the time has come when developed and devel-oping countries alike have to increasingly considerpossibilities of generating alternative resources for thefinancing of technical and vocational education withminimum possible financial support from the govern-ment.

Key Issues and Hypotheses

The notion of school enterprises

As a result of the above developments, new modelschools have emerged – although entrenched withinthe conventional formats of institutional education andtraining – that are supposed to provide economicallyuseful qualifications and facilitate their students’transition into the employment system in whichgraduates are able to immediately apply their skills.The entities established under this perspective includethe notion of combining market production withsystematic vocational learning through the concept ofschool enterprises. The teaching personnel are com-pelled to undertake continuing educational courses toadapt to new market conditions and to introduce newcurricular conceptions adapted to new technologicalprocesses. The introduction of production assumes tobring the school closer to the realities of life, particu-larly the world of work, and goes beyond the prevail-ing thinking that individual lives are divided into aspan of time just to study and another just to work.It is also justified by the need to find new ways ofteaching and learning so as to increase pupils’ interestand motivation in their studies. An important aspect ofschool enterprises is the factor of motivation for effec-tive learning through combining learning with pro-duction, in that the training underlines the importanceof visibility of future returns. Last, but not least,through the synthesis of education and production,technical and vocational education institutions areexpected to exploit new financing options for meetingtraining costs.

The international discussion on school enterprises

During the 1980s, much attention was given to thecombination of education with production at the levelof international co-operation in the field of education.In November 1981, the 38th Session of the Inter-national Conference on Education adopted Recom-mendation No. 37 on ‘Interaction between Educationand Productive Work’. It was recommended thatmember states should co-operate at various levels inthe development of programmes and practices throughexchange of information and experience, joint experi-ments and evaluation.1 In 1984, the Ninth Conferenceof Commonwealth Education Ministers was partlydevoted to discussions on youth unemployment and inthis context it was noted that the “criterion of pro-duction units within schools, and the integration ofwork experience with formal education” were among“a number of different ways of relating schools moreclosely to the world of work…

UNESCO’s International Symposium on ‘InnovativeMethods in Technical and Vocational Education’ held

1 UNESCO, Paris, International Bureau of Education (IBE),

1982

in 1989 in Hamburg, underlined further the inter-national interest in production-oriented learning andteaching.2 One of the major objectives was to defineelements of close co-operation between schools andenterprises both at the level of the educational systemand at the level of the process of vocational learning.In 1990, the ‘Working Group on Production Schools’organised an expert meeting with specific focus on thetheory and practice of production schools.3 The aimwas to gain information on the feasibility of suchapproaches, and to develop models of school enter-prises and the specific conditions of their existence inless industrialised countries. The central motivationwas to analyse reforms in didactic and vocationallearning with special reference to school enterprises inindustrialised countries and compare them with cor-responding attempts in less industrialised countries.

A major emphasis in much of World Bank’s lendingfor education has been on vocational education,primarily at secondary level. Initially these loans wereconcentrated on technical vocational schools andcoincided with the World Bank’s emphasis generallyon physical facilities. But, in the meantime, severalfactors such as increasing relevance of school educa-tion were pushing in the direction of pre-vocationaltraining in many or most of the general secondaryschools. Findings with respect to the effects of pre-vocational versus general programmes on subsequentjobs and incomes of graduates have shown a failure toprovide a reasonable financial social return on theextra costs of the vocational components in the cur-ricula of at least the technical bias programmes.4

Similarly, the strategy of combining general secondaryeducation with production have begun to meet withdisapproval among bilateral donor agencies on groundsof high costs, poor service infrastructure, and in-effective linkages with the labour market. Despite thepresent decrease in international recognition given tothe idea of vocationalisation in the context of generalsecondary education, the principle of combiningeducation with production continues to remain animportant feature of education and training systems inless developed countries on account of several reasonswhich arise primarily from its potential contribution tothe diversification of finance and relevance of learningfor everyday life.

The assumption that somehow the pre-vocational pro-grammes in the secondary schools would resolve theproblem of unemployment among the young school 2 Report of the UNESCO International Symposium, 19893 Arbeitsgemeinschaft ‘Produktionsschule’ (eds.), 19904 See the World Bank sponsored study on diversified secondary

education in Tanzania and Colombia. Third Worldgovernments were strongly advised against the inclusion ofvocational skills in the general education curriculum.Psacharopoulos, G. and Loxley, W., 1985


leavers rested on the false assumption that schoolscould substitute for training linked directly to employ-ment. Educational planners and administrators oftenrelied solely on existing public training facilities,especially technical institutions, polytechnics, non-formal training centres and public secondary schools,to solve the gaps in formation of human resources foreconomic development instead of seeking alternativeinstitutional solutions. Moreover, there was a failureto distinguish between the vocationally specialised andgenerally practical in technical and vocationaleducation.

The main questions that many countries face are whenand how to make the transition from subjects that havebroad vocational relevance (language, mathematics,science and practical skills) to programmes that willprepare individuals for particular jobs or clusters ofjobs. Although general education, which schools canprovide, enhances the individual’s trainability, job-specific training is very important. International expe-rience shows that such training is most efficiently pro-vided after initial job decisions have been made and ininstitutions under, or strongly influenced, by the ulti-mate employer. This does not exclude the inclusion ofpractical subjects such as teaching of applied science,biology, chemistry or physics, or subjects such aselectronics, nutrition, fundamental health practices andsanitation at both basic theoretical and immediatepractical levels. General education and practicaleducation are important foundations for change; but sois job-specific training. In so far as one enhances andcomplements the other, this is a real foundation forchange. Practical education does not suffice to makeschool-leavers both willing and able to become pro-ductively self-employed. Job-specific training is mostimportant for creating self-employment, especially inthe growing informal sector, as well as to meet the newchallenges in the world of work.

1.1 Economic, educational and socialobjectives of school enterprises

The principle of school enterprises can be interpretedas serving a variety of economic, educational andsocial objectives.

Economic considerations

The economic considerations can be discussed alongthree dimensions: labour market, market productionand school budgetary/self-financing aspects.

A major economic justification for establishing schoolenterprises is the need for promoting competencies forself and wage employment. Many of the students whocome from disadvantaged families cannot afford toprolong their education. Increasing employment

opportunities for participants who graduate fromeducational and vocational training establishmentswould therefore shorten the period of transitionbetween school and labour market. Students fromdisadvantaged families require vocational compe-tencies which make them productive members of thecommunities to which they belong.

The important way to make the transition from educa-tion to the labour market is by orienting courses to aparticular market or sub-market with respect toproducts and qualifications. Market production istherefore to be seen as a vehicle for systematiclearning as well as for entry to the labour market.Market production includes promoting competencieswhich are required for launching and managing small-scale enterprises. It also means promoting the abilityto create one’s own work, the ability to undertake sur-veys, and the ability to determine the market needs andeconomic potential of the catchment area of the insti-tution.

In several developing countries, priority now beinggiven to rural development – partly reflected inenhanced investments in integrated rural development,employment, income generation and amelioration ofthe economic conditions of the disadvantaged – willrequire skills inputs in diverse directions. Suchprogrammes as the use of water resources, upgradingenvironment, social forestry, application of technologyto farming and allied occupations, diversification ofagricultural production in such directions as foodprocessing and preservation, and promotion of horti-culture and floriculture will require vocationallyspecialised skills which school enterprises can provide.The linkage of education and production, whilemeeting the existing skill requirements of the ruraleconomy, will help in diversifying the rural economy.

As regards self-financing and the budgetary dimen-sions of technical and vocational training institutions,school enterprises provide a good alternative formatching operating costs by means of production forthe market.

Educational considerations

An important objective of school enterprises is there-fore the combination of technical and commercial/business curricula. Market analysis, accounting,marketing, distribution of goods and services, costing,management and organisation of production, etc. isconsidered an opportunity to enhance the curriculumof production lines such as tool-making and farming.The knowledge and skills of the students are job-specific which they can use in the provision of goodsand services required in the community.


A further basic educational justification for combininglearning with market production is learning throughhands-on experiences. The close connection betweenproduction and vocational education holds a majorchance of avoiding the weaknesses of reality removedtechnical and vocational education, thus makingreality-based learning possible.

The modality of school enterprises is expected toimprove the integration of theory and practice througha better understanding of scientific principles andprocesses of deduction implied in the various types ofjob-specific tasks. It will assist in learning the role ofdifferent technologies and new methods of production.It will develop the ability to choose freely and moreadequately the field of studies, work and career5 anddevelop a broad range of practical, problem-solvingand production skills and allow skilled workers to findnew opportunities for vocational self-actualisation.

In the context of the achievement of the goal of uni-versal basic education, the need for vocational educa-tion which promotes the capacity in students toproduce goods and supply services becomes particu-larly significant.

Apart from promoting the ability to create one’s ownwork, the basic thrust of the modality of school enter-prises is the development of general personality traitsor non-cognitive dispositions and orientations throughinvolvement in real work processes and market pro-duction. These traits include self-confidence, risktaking, innovative behaviour, perseverance, creativity,uprightness, self-determination, habits of discipline,positive motivation towards work, ability to think inoverall contexts, ability to solve problems, independ-ence, team work, willingness to learn, flexibility, inde-pendent decision-making, concentration, responsi-bility, precision, information processing, independentlearning, reliability, quality consciousness, cleanliness,thoroughness in one’s work, development of self-esteem and self-assuredness.6 The notion of com-bining production with learning in Waldorf Schools7,in the alternative projects of ‘Jugendberufsschule’8 inGermany, in Don Bosco Schools9 in developingcountries, as well as in the Danish production schools,derives mainly from the importance given to practical

5 Ibid.6 The growing awareness in developed countries of these per-

sonality factors has led to the introduction of newly developedmethods of teaching, such as guide-oriented learning andtraining methods, project- and transfer-oriented training,modular training systems. See the series Modellversuche zurberuflichen Bildung, Federal Institute for Vocational Training,Berlin

7 Rist, G. P. and Schneider, P., 1982; Fintelmann, K. J., 19918 Ketter, P.-M., Petzold, H.-J. and Schlegel, W., 19869 Oerder, K., 1991

learning in the development of personality, and theteaching of work tasks in order to inculcate values.10

The expectations for these so-called ‘soft skills’ isincreasing.

Thus the modality of school enterprises is expected toensure a balanced development of the physical, emo-tional and mental attitudes, and moral and aestheticvalues in the interest of youngsters and of society.11

Social considerations

The third rationale for the modality of school enter-prises is social. Social and pedagogical considerationsare mutually related. Thus, preparing and training forco-operative and participatory forms of production hasnot only pedagogical value (learning in team work) butalso social value.

The modality of school enterprises will assist inbridging the gap that presently exists between educa-tion, community and the work situation, thus pro-moting an integration between education and devel-opment at the community level. This development atthe level of the community also concerns promoting asense of citizenship, a general acceptance of obli-gations and responsibilities, and clear individual rightsand privileges, thus promoting social cohesion andsocial stability. Fear of youth unemployment is real,and the political ramifications of youth misbehaviourare disturbing. But school enterprises are not simply ameans to keep youth off the street, but have theimportant function of mixing volunteer and communityobligations to engender social commitment.

Not only will school enterprises provide basic trainingfor employment and training in new skills and under-standing in order to meet the challenges of rapid tech-nological and societal change, but they will be in theservice of the people, rather than only in the service ofthe secondary industry. This means reconceptualisingtechnical and vocational education for meeting theneeds of unemployed youth, women and rural dwellersin developed and developing countries alike.

Further school enterprises are expected to reduce dis-crimination against manual work and promote socialmobility. They are expected to teach students to rec-ognise the economic and social values of the varioustypes of work by inculcating in them, through educa-tion, respect for workers, and for the world of labour ingeneral and the realities of work.12

10 Castro, Claudio de Moura, 1988, pp. 195-20611 UNESCO-IBE, 198212 Ibid.


1.2 Need for case studiesThe move to incorporate enterprises in schools is justi-fied on various grounds: improve the employmentsituation, raise additional resources, and find newways of teaching and learning so as to increase pupils’interest in their studies. School enterprises contributein a significant way to educational reforms in societyin terms of alternative methods, structures, and evengoals of learning.

The main questions are how can school enterprisesprepare individuals for particular jobs and clusters ofjobs? What can we learn from the experiences ofvarious countries? What are the varieties of ways ofcombining productive enterprises and education andtraining curricula? What are the dynamics over timeof developments in combining learning with the worldof work? Which programmes seem to be mostsuccessful? Can they really contribute to facilitatingtransition from school to employment, or to raisingschool quality? What are the conditions – organi-sation, management, institutional involvement,teaching personnel and financing – for the effectiveimplementation of school enterprises?

Although much is known about the philosophies ofcombining education with work and their incorpora-tion in policy, very little is known of how suchphilosophies and policies have been translated intoprogramme practice, or the practical implementation ofthe curriculum in the daily activities of teaching andlearning in the school, the learning organisation, theteaching staff, the regulatory mechanisms and thefinancial aspects. The question of whether theseschools exist in the form intended in the originalobjectives and whether they have been able to realisethe concept of combining education with productiondeserves a special study.

While many projects are still entrenched in the formalsector, only sparse documentation is available onschool enterprises in the context of vocational andtechnical education for the informal sector. The intro-duction of school enterprises in/for the growing in-formal sector therefore deserves special attention.

School administrators are faced with decisions on spe-cific cost-effective quality-improving investments andvarious trade-offs. What they want are guides tospecific investment choices. Can learning-by-doingand work experience and other pedagogical character-istics of the work of school enterprises be a goodinvestment? What can we learn from the case studieson the importance of investment in quality comparedto an investment in something else. To whom shouldquality-improving investments be targeted? To thesocially disadvantaged?

However, simply knowing that productive work is acost-efficient means of raising learning achievement isnot enough, as educational managers are increasinglybeing held responsible for the achievement of productswhich reach well beyond the sales of products andservices and academic achievement. The question thatneeds to be addressed is therefore: to what extentschool enterprises promote specific cognitive skills,values, attitudes, and work culture such as diligence,creativity and personal responsibility?

Ministries of education and other agencies need feed-back, partly to improve professional services andadministrative effectiveness in the context of limitedresources. The case studies have the important func-tion of keeping local education researchers anddecision makers informed of alternative techniquesused elsewhere. Further, every rigorous analysis of aneducational problem requires comparison of somekind. There is a growing tendency to see the marketproduction of goods and services as the most efficientsystem. Can the same apply for education? To whatextent and in what way should the private sector beinvolved in education and in human resource develop-ment. There is also a tendency to argue for the state tobe less involved in education and in human resourcedevelopment policies. But yet there remain significantparts of the public educational system which cannot becarried out through private means alone. Comparativeanalyses of cases can help in this respect to documentinstances of differential modes and mixes of publicand private provisions’ contribution to the criteria ofefficiency and equity.

The case studies are expected to focus on the follow-ing broader policy issues:1. How can technical and vocational education con-

tribute to employment creation?2. How can the school enterprise concept be one type

of promotion within the development of diversifiedtechnical and vocational education systems?

3. How can competencies related to jobs be moreeffectively developed through co-operation withlocal industry and enterprise and thus reduce costsof state-run technical and vocational education aswell as increase its relevance?

4. How can technical and vocational education bepromoted for the growing informal sector?

1.3 The conceptual frameworkIn the following, a conceptual framework is proposedthat will enable us to map out a wide variety of experi-ences in different systems and institutions on the basisof certain indicators. The notion of school enterpriseswill be seen as part of a broader educational method-ology of providing educational experiences which


links the teaching-learning process with the world ofwork, so that students not only gain relevant skills,knowledge and attitudes and values, but also thenecessary hands-on experience to apply these compe-tencies in introducing goods and services.

The conceptual framework for analysing ‘schoolenterprises’ includes two fields or contexts ‘working’and ‘learning’. Education and training form part of thebroader domain of learning, whereas productive enter-prise forms part of the world of work. Each domainhas its own characteristics and typical sets of activities.The major focus in combining the two domains lies inusing productive enterprises as instruments to re-inforce and enhance systematic and reflective learning,and for the sake of improving the relevance of edu-cation for later employment and self-employment aswell as for sustainable socio-economic development oflocal communities and regions.

Although it is commonplace to refer to ‘education’ interms of activities aimed at acquiring general knowl-edge, attitudes and values, and the term ‘training’ tothe acquisition of occupational or job-related skills, thedivision needs to be seen as a purely analytical one asthe two are interrelated dimensions within the domainof learning. Recent studies have shown that ‘edu-cation’ and ‘training’ or ‘technically specialised jobrelated skills’ and ‘general skills’ cannot be isolatedfrom one another as both are necessary for successfulwork performance.13

The notion ‘productive enterprise’ goes beyond pro-ductive activities in a narrow sense, i.e. which stipulateas the only condition that the volume of the goods andservices produced by the students is to be substantial.Where the specific term ‘productive enterprise’ isused, it is meant to cover those work activities, such asproduction process, organising, planning, designing,marketing etc., aimed at generating goods or servicesthat have economic, social and pedagogical value.Only those productive activities in the context of edu-cational establishments fall in the category of schoolenterprises where there is a shared conviction abouttheir pedagogical value and their economic necessity.The income generating aspect of educational estab-lishments is to be seen as enhancing the learningpotential of learners and as a focus of reflectivelearning.

The notion of ‘school enterprise’ is illustrative of alocation in which an educational or training institutionis, at one and the same time, an undertaking related tothe world of work. The training institute or schoolmay be a public institution or one run by a non-govern-

13 Singh, M., 1996

mental agency. Some of the ‘non-formal’ institutionsmay be quite highly formalised. The concept ‘schoolenterprise’ entails the combination of learning andproduction at several stages, such as the education andtraining stage, the production stage and the enterprisestage.

The notion of school enterprises is an approach tolearning involving an organised and direct interactionbetween the development of knowledge, skills, andattitudes and values (competencies) on the one hand,and the production enterprise on the other. The sub-ject is involved in both processes and there is somedegree of planned and intentional interaction betweenthem. The above view of school enterprises howeverdoes not imply that a planned introduction of anelement of productive work automatically leads to theinvolvement of trainees in vocational learning andtraining.

1.4 MethodologyThe data for the report has been collected mainly byway of interpreting available literature on schoolenterprises with a view to capturing differences thatoccur according to the optimal interlinking betweenlearning and production, the different socio-economiccontexts as well as differences in the emphasis on thepedagogical value of introducing productive enter-prise.

The notion of school enterprises is not only a concernin less industrialised countries faced with high levelsof underemployment, but also in more advancedcountries. The case studies therefore provide inter-national comparisons, as the link between educationand production has been undertaken in many parts ofthe world and in situations that differ widely in termsof socio-cultural characteristics, political and ideo-logical systems, and levels of development. The reportpays attention to traditions and possibilities in devel-oping countries, but also makes references to possi-bilities in Western States, guided by liberal pragmaticideas to the introduction of work orientation inschools.

In order to make a proper evaluation of school-runenterprises, descriptions have been complemented byanalysis. Here is a shortlist of indicators for theevaluation of school-run enterprises:• What role is the incorporation of production in the

educational context supposed to play?• What are the modes of organising learning?• What are the determinants of educational

outcomes?• How can the vocational training and educational

system be carried out through co-operation with


private industry and micro-enterprises in the in-formal sector?

• What is the role of different regulatorymechanisms?

• What are the factors for an optimal mix betweeninvolvement in real work processes and academic/practical curriculum?

• What are the welfare effects of combiningeducation with production?

• How can incentives be provided to teachers withinthe context of school enterprises?

• How are resources raised and what are they usedfor?

• How do graduates enter the labour market?• How much public control or support should be

introduced and, where public intervention isinvolved, how far responsibility and initiative maybe decentralised?

2 Case Studies

This section presents case studies of school enterprisesfrom China, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea,Germany, Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Algeria, Cuba andCosta Rica. Following this, section three drawsconclusions from the case studies and offers guidelinesfor planners and designers of programmes of technicaland vocational education.

2.1 ChinaThe separation of education from the world of workand labour which characterised the history of Chinahas been blurred in the last four decades. The intro-duction of labour and work study into schools as partof the curriculum was an attempt to end the privilegedrole held by the educated in Chinese society. The part-labour, part-study schools in China initiated during theCommunist period was the earliest driving forcebehind the movement combining learning with pro-duction. However, pragmatic economic concernsfollowing requirements of personal survival, educa-tional expansion and providing the modern workforceneeded to modernise the country soon became equallyimportant.14 During the past 40 years the work-studyprogrammes in Chinese schools have been making atransition to a variety of school enterprises which nowserve primarily the vocational needs of the students,while at the same time providing much neededfinancing for Chinese schools. The burgeoning eco-nomic opportunities in China, coupled with increasedschool autonomy to develop new programmes, provideschools with the opportunities to greatly expand thework-study element. By the mid-1980s, the term‘school enterprises’ was being used by some in placeof ‘work-study’ as the economic activities of theschool were expanded, and as the enterprises becamemore dependent on full-time employees in addition tofurther training of student labour. Today, they consistof factories, farms, construction companies, and a widerange of service businesses.

14 Zachariah, M. and Hoffman, A., 1984

Jinsong Vocational Senior Middle School in Beijing

The Jinsong Vocational Senior Middle School15 inBeijing has a school-run restaurant. The students arejunior-middle-school graduates. During the threeyears, the pupils are trained in the theory and practiceof Chinese cooking in addition to the general coursesof the senior middle school. There is a cookinglaboratory to start their practical training under theguidance of teachers. The cooked food is eaten by thestudents and teachers at a discount rate. There is aschool-run restaurant for profit. The third-yearstudents are expected to cook in the restaurant. Thereare no professional cooks. The cooking is done solelyby the students under the supervision of the teachers.This constitutes a higher level training upon com-pletion of which they usually find a job. Since there isa constant change in chefs, the quality of food is notstable. Nevertheless, the restaurant is well patronised.Half the profit is retained by the school and the otherhalf is used for professional courses and laboratorypractice. Since the government budget for the schoolis small and not likely to increase, the school fills thegaps in budget and expenditure.

Secondary Vocational School of Nangong County,Hebei Province

The school has set up a mushroom-species breedingbase and a mushroom cultivation base. These basesnot only provide mushroom species to the localfarmers but also teach them mushroom cultivatingtechniques in short term courses. In addition, a school-run factory producing canned mushrooms was builtthrough loans. The raw mushrooms are purchasedfrom the farmers and, after being processed in thefactory, are sold in the market. Thus a chain of pro-duction is set up from farmers homes to school, factoryand market. The farmers attain a higher profit thanthose who have not joined this chain of production.The students are graduates of the junior middle school.

15 Senior middle schools are of a duration of two to four years,

after completion of junior middle school. Students are betweenthe ages of 15 and 18.

Case Studies

During their three-year study at the vocational school,half the time is devoted to learning the general coursesrequired in an ordinary senior middle school.

Xianyang Machine Tool Technical School

This is a secondary technical school, whose aim is thetraining of skilled workers and technicians. Whileproviding practical training, such a factory has regularprofessional workers and fixed kinds of products. Thefactory is run by the school, and it ensures that theproductive activities in the factory match the curricu-lum. The factory - just as other regular factories - canreceive investments and loans. In order to supportsuch a school enterprise, the government has a specialpreferential tax cut of 50%, on the condition that 60%of the profit is used for expanding and improvingteaching facilities. 1,500 students are enrolled in thistechnical school. Students are graduates of lowermiddle schools and study for four years. The schoolhas laboratories to complement theoretical teaching.The factory produces universal and tool-grindingmachines. There is a teaching staff numbering 574.The school possesses 500 major machines. The annualoutput is 200 grinding machines. The profit in 1988was 464,000 yuan.

As regards the curriculum, there are 20 weeks of prac-tical training during four years. Basic skills such asthat of a fitter are taught in separate learning work-shops. Practice in operations takes place under thesupervision of experienced instructors. During theirtraining, students can finish part of the production, butthe finishing work is done by employed professionalworkers in order to reach the precision and qualityspecified on the blueprint.

The Baofengsi Secondary Forestry School

The Baofengsi Secondary Forestry School in themountainous areas of Zhuolu county, Hebei province,aims to improve the yield of almonds by impartingskills in scientific management. The trainees have amiddle school education. The school has a school-runorchard. The school transmits scientific theory pluspractice in grafting, pruning, biological and chemicalknowledge in order to prevent and eradicate plantdiseases and insect pests. Since most students havefarms at home they can apply the techniques fromschool to their homes. Students bring to school theproblems they face in their own orchards at home. Forthose who have no orchards at home, the school pro-vides loans to set up one. The combination of studyand management brings quick economic benefits. Theamount of almonds produced is greater than that pro-duced by the local farmers. Students come not onlyfrom local areas but also from far-away villages. Forthese students, sandwich courses are prepared,allowing the students to study at school for a period of

one month and then go back home. The school hasprovided technical service to 17 villages in the area.

Guangzhou School No. 38

The school was established in 1957 as a junior secon-dary school. In 1970, the senior secondary componentwas added. In 1982, it was converted from its generalsecondary status to a mono-vocational garment school.It has 1000 students enrolled, taught by 115 facultyand staff. The junior level classes maintain theirgeneral school academic curriculum, while the seniorsecondary level provides nine academic subjects inaddition to vocational training. The vocationaltraining includes required courses in management,design, and manufacturing in the garment industry; andgraduation requirements include a demonstration ofdesign and planning skills and a public display of thestudent’s work. School 38 does well in nationalgarment competitions and the fashion team regularlyholds fashion shows in Guangzhou.

The school enterprises are directly related to the voca-tional focus of the school. The school’s enterprise is afactory which provides the students with directlyapplicable experiences and a chance to work in theclothing business. Its original purpose was combiningtheory and practice. In 1994, it expanded its productline to include a variety of current fashions and anumber of jeans products. In addition to students, theenterprise employs 36 workers.

While the focus of the enterprise serves the educa-tional interest of the school well, the enterprise is notalways profitable as it suffers from a shortage ofmarketable products as well as competition fromforeign businesses which produce garments moreefficiently. There is also a need for investment capitalto update old equipment.

Guangzhou School No. 6

This school was founded in 1937 and is one of the fourkey schools in Guangzhou. It has 1900 students, 300of whom are residential. Audio-visual and sciencefacilities as well as computers form an important partof the teaching aids. The school prides itself in thesuccess of its graduates, most of whom go on totertiary institutions.

The current curriculum requires the students to takevocational skills subjects each year. These includetyping, mechanical knowledge, industrial arts, basiccomputers, Chinese word-processing and mechanicaldrawing. Work-study has not been thoroughly incor-porated into the curriculum. There are plans beingmade to incorporate students into the factories, bothfor appreciation of labour and for job skills. However,there is some ambivalence about these plans, because

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time spent in work orientation means less time for theacademic study necessary for university admission.

The school-established factories complement the sub-jects taught. There was a heavy student involvementin the early years. However, in the early 1980s, thereduction of student hours in the factories began, andfull-time workers were employed. In 1994, thefactories consisted of two separate printing facilitiesand a chemical facility. The printing facilities printedthe official envelopes and papers for the post officeand tickets for the public transportation system. Thechemical facility worked in conjunction with anelectrical research facility in Guangzhou whereproducts are developed and exported to the Republicof Korea. The chemical facility was moved severalmiles away from the school because of the use of toxicchemicals and the concern for environmentalstandards.

In 1994, these factories employed about 60 techni-cians, engineers and skilled workers, and six managers.The profits from the factories totalled 1,000,000 yuanand provided 50% of the schools operating funds,equal to the amount provided by the government to runthe school. The money was used for staff benefits andsalaries, for facility repairs and upgrades, for educa-tional equipment, and for reinvestment in the enter-prise.

2.2 India

School Enterprises in Vocational Secondary Schools

The establishment of school enterprises at the voca-tional secondary level (classes IX and X) in Indianeeds to be seen as an attempt to evolve from prevoca-tional options of broad vocational relevance to job-specific training introducing goods and services for themarket.

The Education Commission (1964-1966) recommen-ded vocationalisation of secondary education (upperand lower). The National Policy on Education (1986and 1992) gave renewed emphasis to the introductionof vocational education programme in classes IX andX. The significant purpose of vocational educationprogramme (VEP) in classes IX and X is to providestudents with professional skills which are required inthe economy. 70% of the time available is devoted tovocational theory and skill training. Apart from thepractical subjects in laboratories and training work-shops at the institution, it is planned that strongschool-industry linkages develop so that students ofvocational courses get an exposure to real worksituations in the industry. Highly skilled professionalsare invited to schools to teach practical subjects tovocational students. There is provision for on-the-job

training in the evenings during the summer vacationsat the end of class XI.

Under the existing vocational education programme(VEP), infrastructure facilities have been provided fortraining in vocational skills. These same facilities aregoing to be used for the school enterprise afterensuring that they are relevant to the operation ofschool enterprises. With these minimum facilities, theschool enterprise is expected to generate its ownresources in future. Raw materials are providedthrough the centrally sponsored scheme. Studentslearn the skills in the training workshop-cum-productive enterprise, and gain experience in themarketing of products and services.

In the design and organisation of the programme, manyparties are given responsibilities. These include thePSS Central Institute of Vocational Education, respon-sible for providing guidelines on the establishment ofschool enterprises and overall design and co-ordi-nation; the State Ministries of Education, responsiblefor implementation and academic support; the DistrictVocational Education Committee (DVEC) includingofficials from government departments dealing withhealth, electricity, rural development, backwardclasses, finance, employment and human resources;and finally, employers’ organisations and communityorganisations involved in providing essential services.The DVEC takes appropriate steps to promote school-industry linkage, assesses the strength and weaknesses,and suggests remedial measures.

The DVEC has been assigned the task of playing aleading role in devising industry-school partnershipsfor rural development. As massive investment inactivities is going to take place in the areas of ruralhousing, watershed management, fisheries, agriculturewasteland development, floriculture, food processing,domestic appliances and communication, the schoolenterprises are expected to exploit these opportunitiesin two ways:1. by bringing in new vocations into the system of

vocational training and matching these to the needsin rural areas;

2. by acting as one of the bidders for taking up variousappropriate jobs from these investment opportuni-ties.

These are expected to be accomplished by appropriatelinkages and networking with various governmentaland non-governmental agencies such as IRDP (Inte-grated Rural Development Programmes), TRYSEM(Training Rural Youth for Self-Employment) andKVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission).

Case Studies

The PSS Central Institute of Vocational Education isan apex institute which provides technical support tostates and schools introducing vocational courses. Ithas developed 80 competency based vocational curric-ula in agriculture, business and commerce, engineeringand technology, health and paramedicin, home science,and humanities at the higher secondary school stage.Currently, over 150 vocational courses are beingoffered under the centrally sponsored scheme indifferent states in India.

In operationalising the concept of school enterprises,the following parameters have been taken into con-sideration: production activities and services areselected within the broad area of VEP on the basis ofassessment of community and market needs; manage-ment of production activities include the procurementof raw materials, processing and marketing; regulatingthe mode of sharing the gains and losses of the activi-ties. This is undertaken to act both as an incentive toattract and motivate teachers and students, and toensure that a self-sustaining process within the schoolsystem is set in motion.

With regard to the implementation of the school-runenterprise programme, a critical area of attention is theautonomy in decision making and the role of differentagencies at state level as facilitators rather than super-visors or checkers.

The school enterprises manage/operate through theSchool Vocational Education Committee consisting ofthe principal/vice-principal as the chairperson, theteachers concerned, and 2 to 3 members of the com-munity including representatives of the PTA (ParentTeachers Association), industry and governmentagencies. In addition, the person responsible foraccounting and storekeeping in the school and onestudent representative for each vocation may be co-opted onto this committee.

The School Vocational Education Committee isresponsible for approving jobs, training teachers,ensuring the availability of raw materials, giving allneeded support, publicising the activities and creatingnew markets, evaluating the completed projects andmonitoring the running of school enterprises, ensuringthe quality of production and services, ensuring properrunning and maintenance, developing the mechanismof proper economic disposal of unsold rejected items,comparing performance indices to enhance produc-tivity. Finally, this committee will report on the activi-ties to the higher authorities and create, in general, ahealthy climate for the survival of the enterprises. Ithas also been proposed that co-operation and co-ordi-nation should be developed with different vocationalinstitutions in the neighbourhood which run school

enterprises with regard to the exchange of experience,fixing of rates for services and establishing codes/ethics to be observed.

Students and teachers operating a school enterprisemake up the working group. Monitoring is a jointfunction of the working group and the SchoolVocational Education Committee.

Under the centrally sponsored scheme on vocationali-sation of secondary education, every school runningVEP receives a financial assistance of 200,000 rupeesper course of which 100,000 rupees is used for theconstruction of work sheds, and the other 100,000 forprovision of equipment/workshop and laboratoryfacilities.

For purchasing raw materials and making the requiredworking capital available, especially in the initialyears, several channels are to be tapped. The ultimateobjective is self-sufficiency at the earliest, and surplusgeneration for future growth and development.Working capital resources include, in order of priority,advances from customers, raw materials fromcustomers, shares/equity from teachers and students,loans from the parent teachers association or schoolfunds, loans from commercial and co-operative banks,seed money from state governments, project-basedstate government funding schemes, and any otherresources based on business norms.

In its guidelines for school enterprises, the CentralInstitute of Vocational Education has recommendedthat production for the market should have pedagogicalbenefits: being an additional source of understandingof appropriate concepts such as profit and loss. Thedetailed costing and pricing of the job is part of aneducational exercise. Costing in engineering enter-prises includes: record labour rates for the chosenactivity, prepare estimation of cost of various productspossible with the given skill, compare with marketrates, match job orders to the available time andhuman resources, prepare job cards, collect advancefrom the client to cover material cost, keep records oftime, machine and labour, work out estimated delivery,prepare final cost and bills, review and document.Costing services (individual or within the premise)include: solicit or obtain request for service, choosestudents for the above, discuss and complete require-ments with clients, visit the site and finalise the servicerequired, prepare and estimate, finalise the date ofservice, get an advance covering materials in cost andkind, provide the service, receive payments, reviewand document. Costing in agriculture productionincludes: working out the cost of production ofpossible crops, selection of crops, maintenance ofrecords of inputs and costs, estimation of profit or loss,


economic review of the above sales and harvestoperations, and recording standard of performance.

In the cost analysis of products/service, 10% of alldirect costs such as labour, material, energy (powerrating) as well as depreciation and maintenance (fixedby the teacher) is to be included.16 The use of schoolinfrastructure facilities may be made available tostudents for commercial activity at a nominal rentalfee.

Surplus from sales is the amount left over after sub-tracting the expenditure on raw materials and utilities.The surplus is distributed as follows: 25% schoolfund, 15% maintenance, 15% as separate account fordevelopment of the school enterprise, 45% forstudents, 10% for teachers, 2% for attendants, 1% eachfor the accountant, vice-principal and principal respec-tively.

Technical experts are drawn from industry, profes-sional institutions including laboratories and univer-sities, and from among manufactures in local small-scale enterprises. Technical aids include manuals,journals, and lectures by technical experts. State orregional testing laboratories are responsible for qualitycontrol. The basic idea of technical support is toencourage the students to innovate and experimentwith creative ideas. The staff are given re-orientationcourses in different institutions where they can gethands-on experience and exposure to marketing/com-mercial and professional functions.

Service Production Centre, Vigyan Ashram at Pabal,Pune

The Service Production Centre in Pabal, Pune, is aneducation-cum-production unit attached to a vocationalsecondary school. The primary objectives of incorpo-rating enterprise into the secondary vocational schoolare improving the relevance of education, making theschool a viable economic unit and promoting entre-preneurship by creating confidence among its studentsthat they can run a profitable enterprise. Vocationaleducation includes teaching how to operate in the openmarket and make the production unit viable. However,as the educational institution is primarily a learningplace, the aim is to promote a work culture and busi-ness environment rather than judging the school interms of the volume of profits alone. The idea is thatthe vocational training institution should work like anindustry. Only in this way is it possible to create a reallife situation. The underlying assumption is thatmodern skills cannot be well developed in schoolsuntil the prevailing ‘ethos’ of the latter is that which isrequired for vocational preparation.

16 See Verma, A. P., 1996

In the initial stages, there are obvious constraints ofoperating an educational institution as a commercialunit; for example, the overheads of education such assalaries of teachers cannot be borne by school pro-duction. Therefore the school has adopted the conceptof a semi-commercial enterprise. This concept hasbeen proposed in order to separate the educationalfunctions from the productive functions and to give itsstudents a greater opportunity to experiment and inno-vate. Only when the school enterprise becomes aneconomically viable unit will the management of theschool be included in commercial operation.

The staff remain alert and up to date, bring newopportunities to light and encourage entrepreneurship.All enterprises in the region have been started by ex-students. Many of the staff members have left to starttheir own enterprises because their stay has given themthe confidence. Staff members setting up their ownenterprises is not seen by the management and studentsas a loss to the institution. Instead, it is regarded assetting a good example for others to start their ownenterprises. Instructors receive their training at theService and Production Centre, Pune.

A wide variety of products and services are providedby the Vigyan Ashram. These include dairy and agri-cultural products (poultry, eggs, broilers) and breedinggoats. Technical services include electronics, pro-duction of ERM instruments, workshop fabrication,water resource management, rural laboratory, mecha-nical bullock, publications, and rural business centre.

For over 9 years, the vocational training school has runbroiler farms where students invest their own moneyand, after completion of the course, get a share of theprofits in proportion to their investments. Many ofthem start their own poultry farms.

Entrepreneurial success is most marked in the field offabrication workshop. Other branches have not been assuccessful. Nonetheless, more students start poultryfarms than fabrication workshops. Ex-students showvery little interest in agriculture as it is difficult tosuccessfully operate as a commercial enterprise. Theproduction of fodder crops has however been con-sistently making good profits. A dairy can also be runas a semi-commercial enterprise with a steady turn-over. But, like agriculture, it is not glamorous anddoes not attract students. The artificial inseminationservices for goats is another regular but low volumesemi-commercial enterprise.

Novel services include vertical electrical sounding.This method has been one of the most popular andunique agricultural services, of strategic value to the

Case Studies

rural area. Each test costs 1000 rupees. Two of thestaff members have set up their own enterprises in theneighbourhood. The rural laboratory, giving medicaldiagnostic service, has been operating on a no profit noloss basis for about 6-7 years and has a net surplus ofabout 300 rupees per month. The sum is not large butthe service is appreciated by the farmers. It is notgood for income generation. It has a regular stream ofgirls coming for training. The geodesic dome is beingrun as a commercial enterprise by a single student. Inthe construction section, there is a consistent demandfor boys to build geodesic domes. This is, however,not being taken up by the school, but passed on to ex-students who have become contractors. It difficult toorganise this enterprise because the service requiresstaying outdoors for extended periods. But it hastremendous potential.

In the vocational secondary schools located in thevicinity of the Vigyan Ashram, the services are pre-dominantly workshop services. The incorporation ofservices such as electrical, water prospecting and agri-culture depends on the interest shown by the instruc-tors. Sometimes they have to be motivated throughincentives to conduct courses in rearing poultry.

The value of services provided vary from school toschool depending on the interest taken by the instruc-tors. The non-grant expenditure comes from locallygenerated funds, i.e. those paid for by the community.The learning-cum-production workshops of the VigyanAshram as well as those in the neighbouring voca-tional secondary schools have been able to reach alevel where roughly 1/4 to 1/2 of the total expenditurecomes from locally generated funds.

The production-cum-training centre is a feasible pro-gramme for the rural area including the smallervillages of less than 10,000 population. Firstly, itcomplements the existing vocational education and,secondly, it facilitates the economic development ofthe region.

According to the head principal, the school enter-prise’s success depends on inculcating an appropriatework culture among the youngsters. Further, hementioned that the “10 to 5” work day will have to bereplaced by longer working hours. The staff shouldhave an incentive system by which they get a coresalary and the balance is linked to their productivity.The training of new staff should be an ongoingprocess, because it is to be expected, that if the centreis successful, many of the staff would leave to starttheir own enterprises and new staff will have to betrained. There should be a selection process forattracting candidates with an entrepreneurial spirit.Agriculture and animal husbandry are well suited for

production with a view to supplementing the income ofthe institution or reducing the dependence on govern-ment support. In this connection, however, suitabletop-level management will be necessary to avoid cor-ruption. Though engineering subjects are suited forthe service industry, they do not necessarily contributemuch to resource generation. Nevertheless, they needto be promoted in order to meet the demand for engi-neering products and to help in creating new employ-ment opportunities. As a policy measure, such service-production centres are expected to play the role ofpath-finders rather than compete with small engineer-ing industries in the rural areas.

Production Centre in Shantikunj Ashram, Haridwar

Shantikunj was established in 1969 by Pandit Sri RamSharma Acharya, who was an active associate freedomfighter of Mahatma Gandhi. Shantikunj follows theGandhian philosophy and carries out the prime objec-tive of disciplined modest living, and extends spiritual,moral and financial help to weaker sections of society.

The production centre was basically set up to make theAshram self-reliant. It comprises of a number of smallenterprises in the following trades. Candle making,nara-feeta (thread and silk string), bees wax and honeyproduction, bakery, agarbati (incense sticks), chalkmaking, bookbinding, rubberstamps, photo lamination,ballpen refill, tailoring, religious thread (janeu),printing press liquid, photography, oil extraction,handloom fabric, papad making (linsen bread).

Small-scale enterprises were set up in Shantikunj in1986. These enterprises operate on a very modest,low-cost scale and employ services of voluntaryworkers. The cost of the products include 4 to 6% ofthe cost of raw materials, electricity and waterexpenses. The bakery unit is housed in two rooms.The first room has a traditional oven (bhatti). Locallyavailable wood is used as fuel for the oven. Thesecond room is used for pre-cooking preparations.

The breads and biscuits are sold to the inmates andvisitors to Shantikunj with a profit of 4 to 6%. Thebreads and biscuits are sold unpacked in order toreduce production costs.

Since the consumers are mostly people who visit theAshram (Shantikunj), which in a sense provides aservice to these visitors, it does not compete with thelocal enterprises. The production centre is self-sus-taining and generates funds for its continual running.

Production centres of the kind at Shantikunj have beenestablished in vocational secondary schools as a stepforward towards a more effective implementation ofthe Vocational Education Programme. The primary


aim of such production centres is to provide skilltraining to students and some incidental productionand profits. Small orders for any product are procuredfrom the schools’ staff. Execution of these ordersenables the students to get sufficient practical training,refine their practical skills, and improve the quality ofgoods during practical training or practical classes.

Don Bosco Technical Institute, New Delhi

The Don Bosco Technical Institute, New Delhi, wasestablished as an alternative to the existing engineeringcolleges and polytechnics. The idea was to set up amachine workshop to be later followed by motormechanics and electrical engineering. The tradesturner and fitter were approved in 1977. By 1983 thetrades draughtsman (mechanical) and machinist(grinder) were added. Today there are 200 trainees inthe machinist section.

The institute was initially established to train localChristians for modern industry. But, as training at thislevel was not really considered respectable, the insti-tute was not working to its optimal capacity. Thosewith calibre preferred to go to college or seek admis-sion at higher levels. Those who came had not com-pleted their Class X, which meant that they had to bedrilled in basic competencies of English and mathe-matics. The other difficulty was to get into workingrelationships with some of the local industries.

Initially, the training in mechanical engineering wasfor 4 years, with a one-year preparatory course in basicEnglish and mathematics for those who had passedonly the 8th grade. Experiencing the difficulties thatthis brought to teaching, it was soon decided to raisethe entry requirement to Class X, and those who didnot pass this stage would have to sit for an admissionexam.

The structure of training has been restructured.Nowadays, students do the basic and intermediatemechanical engineering within two years and the finalyear is devoted to advanced courses in differentbranches like CNC. CNC programming has beenintroduced to enable better job opportunities and keeppace with technological advancement. Diplomas intool and die-making, tool designing and mechanicalengineering (technician) are awarded to successfulcandidates.

As part of the programme of the Directorate of Voca-tional and Technical Training to encourage computertraining programmes in private centres, a computerdepartment has been set up which includes a hardwareand software training centre. While most computercentres in Delhi cater only to the upper class, Don

Bosco is a place where the less privileged have achance to learn.

The Belgian non-governmental funding agencyCOMIDE provided the necessary funding for theprinting section. The training lasts two years. In thefirst year, the students are given a general orientationand basic knowledge about the various aspects ofprinting, namely: composing layout, camera, filmassembly, plate-making, printing and binding. Uponcompleting their basic training in printing, traineesreceive specialised training in selected sections thatmatch their capabilities, inclinations and talents.Printing education and industry has a bright future.There are about 70,000 to 80,000 printing presses inthe country, excluding the newspaper industry andpublic sector printing presses. The printing industryrequires trained and technically qualified personnel.Training therefore becomes an imperative input thatneeds the foundation of quality. The ability for hardwork and meeting deadlines are the most importantwork attitudes that are inculcated during training in thefield of printing.

An important part of the printing school are courses indesktop publishing and digital pre-press. Some ofthese trainees also undergo a one-year training in filmassembly and plate-making. Both these courses areaimed at providing the students with a sound theoreti-cal and practical training.

Although, in general, it is not easy to expose studentsto actual jobs in the field of mechanical engineering,the institute has been quite successful. This is the onlyway to meet the demand for graduates by the localindustries. Working on actual jobs is an on-goingprocess which needs hard work and dedication.

As the machine section is the base of all otherbranches of engineering, the mechanical section hasbeen upgraded regularly.

The Don Bosco Technical Institute finances up to 40%– occasionally more – of its operating costs throughexternal contract work carried out in their trainingworkshops. There is an attempt to increase or main-tain this self-financing share in the technical instituteby employing full-time workers. At the same time,strong emphasis is given to a comprehensive theoreti-cal and practical vocational training in conjunctionwith social education. The technical institute is notseen as mere workshop training; great importance isattached to the inclusion of vocational theory, generaleducation and social education.

Case Studies

Don Bosco Self-Employment Research Institute,Howrah

Young technicians passing out of the Don Bosco highschools and technical institutes often find it difficult tofind jobs in the already saturated employment market.A further problem is that the sophisticated traininggiven in the technical institutes reaches only a limitedcategory of youth – the intelligent ones. The realsituation in India is that there are hosts of youth whoare school drop-outs or lack text book handling ofskills, although not entirely unfurnished with practicalintelligence. Don Bosco has been able to cater only toa very limited number of these local boys and youngmen who find that they cannot cope with the formalsystem of education.

It was therefore felt that a new training programmeshould be devised: less sophisticated, short-term andemployment-oriented. Beneficiaries would be schooldrop-outs, poor orphans, physically handicapped,scheduled tribes or castes, and those below the povertyline. Unlike the training in a complicated machine toolworkshop, this was going to be a systematic training inthe development of a skill to operate the essentialmachines to do one particular job accurately andprofitably.

With the financial assistance of Misereor of Germanyand Indo-German Social Service Society of Delhi astart was made. The Don Bosco administrationsucceeded in getting two large buildings on rent veryclose to the Don Bosco Technical School. The IndianOverseas Bank provided regular financing at thedifferential rate of interest of 4% to the tiny entre-preneurs. The Don Bosco Self-Employment TrainingInstitute, Howrah, was officially opened in 1977.

This institute lies in the Liuah industrial region in thestate of West Bengal and is in the heart of factories formanufacturing engineering goods. The locality has apopulation consisting of Bengalis, Biharis and othergroups who have come together in search of work inthe many mills and factories around. With theincreased problem of population growth and labourunrest resulting from the closure of most of thefactories in and around the area, unemployment andother social problems have taken root. The youth arethe most affected. The unemployment rate is expectedto continue to worsen. 80% of the children drop-out ofschools before they reach class X. The major reasonfor drop-out is poverty. In a survey published by theIndian Statistical Institute in 1979, on primary schooldrop-outs of 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Howrahdistricts in West Bengal, it was found that, fromamong the school drop-outs, 72 to 80% of boys and 56to 68% of girls are forced to leave school for economic

reasons, such as supplementing the family income orlooking after their younger brothers and sisters.

Training has been made accessible to school drop-outsand socially disadvantaged youth. As the establish-ment of enterprises forms an essential part of thistraining, it provides the underprivileged school drop-outs an excellent opportunity to earn, and thereforeserves as a solution to the unemployment problem.The scheme also benefits the physically handicappedand provides an opportunity for girls and womenunable to make a headway in formal education.It helps them to augment their income and sustain afamily. Furthermore it promotes positive values towork and helps in facing the challenges of a competi-tive world of work.

15 to 20 trainees are given non-formal training coursesof a duration running from three months to one year.All who complete the non-formal training programmesuccessfully are awarded a certificate.

During the training in the non-formal section, theinstructors and staff members assess the aptitude ofpotential candidates to perform a particular job or lineof jobs with proficiency. The Don Bosco TechnicalInstitute with its market research, experiments, proto-type development, and regular ancillary developmentalways has a few dozen prospective orders in line withthe liaison agents to be started at any given time. Theaptitude study of a candidate is always in line withthese pending orders or market requirements. Selectedcandidates are fitted into one or another of the pendingjobs. Upon completion of the six-month non-formalcourses, those students are selected who fulfil therequisites of a self-employment project. However, thetechnical staff do not only base the aptitude of thecandidates on the existing job orders, but on the basisof new jobs, skills, orders, and know-how resultingfrom research activities and publication.

Once the trainee has opted to join the Self-Employ-ment Training Institute, he/she is introduced to thelocal bank with a request and recommendation forbank financing to start a tiny enterprise on his/her ownwithin the institute’s infrastructure and rules.A project report is prepared to present to the bank for anecessary loan sanction. Bank accounts are operatedjointly by the beneficiary and the director or principal.The new entrepreneurs of this type are under the con-stant vigilance and monitoring of the staff. They arealso introduced to the marketing network. From thenon, each of these trainees works and produces amarketable item with an order from the liaison agents.

Selected machines are purchased against the bankloan. These machines are installed at the institute and


each trainee starts his/her own respective productionunder the close supervision of the technical staff.A boy of this category masters his machine in twoweeks and reaches an efficiency of up to 50-60% withregard to production and accuracy.

At this point, each project holder is shifted along withhis own machine to the production section where he isallotted a space and other amenities. From thismoment on, this young entrepreneur becomes a pro-ductive person and starts his/her own production andsells his/her product. The monthly earnings are sharedbetween the bank (40%) to repay the loan, and the DonBosco Institute (25%) for the infrastructure assistance.The balance of 35% is taken home as own income.Thus the entrepreneur becomes a breadwinner evenwhile a trainee in the institute.

The enterprises are ancillaries to industries. It is anopportunity for the industry to show concern for theneedy. Most of the companies that Don Boscoapproaches come forward and assist the institute byproviding it with regular work orders and impartingtheir know-how and development techniques. Someindustries even send a team of their developmentengineers to work with the students to get productionmoving and to overcome the teaching problems thatcome in the way of training. The cost of production iscut down because the production units act as ancil-laries to the industries. Ancillary development there-fore constitutes an important objective of the schoolenterprises.

Attempts to develop new and sophisticated compo-nents for various industries have been successful main-ly because the project holders have the backing of themain workshop of the Don Bosco Technical Institutewith its large variety of modern and sophisticatedmachines. The products coming out of the Self-Employment Institute are thus of a high standard andprecision.

Miseoror of Germany has provided most of the modernmachines which are today the backbone of the Tech-nical School and of the Don Bosco Self-EmploymentTraining Institute.

It is found that a boy of average calibre with averageworking conditions can repay his total loan in 36monthly instalments. After the repayment of the loan,40% of the income is taken home; the rest is paid tothe institute. This gives an added impetus to the newerproject holders. After repayment of the loans, the staffbecomes preoccupied with the final settlements of thestudents in their own premises or in rented spaces.This is made possible through the trainees’ ownsavings, with the help of benefactors or banks and

government programmes for the disadvantaged. Theidea is to utilise the programmes of self-employmentthat are due to them from the government. There istalk of establishing a corpus fund for helping youngentrepreneurs especially in the initial stages.

The institute has been renamed Research Institutebecause the nature of the activities involved in it arethose of research: i.e. finding out ways and means tohelp the school drop-outs and handicapped youth.They are the most disadvantaged, excluded andmarginal, and are considered a threat and a burden tothe nation. The Don Bosco Research Institute moti-vates them to learn, trains them to work and earn, andinduces them to produce marketable products. Itmakes them tiny entrepreneurs. Each of the staffmembers researches the students capabilities to learnto produce, to sell, to earn, to survive, with a wideoption of 15 trades and 30 more in due course.

The secret of success in any manufacturing orservicing enterprise depends mostly on the identifi-cation of proper liaison agents with marketing skillsand correct motivation and training, and who can dobusiness without exploiting the less privileged. Sales-manship is promoted as a profession. The art ofmanufacturing and selling are seen as separate activi-ties and qualities that are not to be found in one andthe same person, still less in poor school drop-outs.Hence a liaison agent is an essential component of aproduction system. With the help and co-operation ofDon Boscos liaison agents, the research institute hasbeen able to market components and materials of highquality produced by the entrepreneurs.

The school enterprises manufacture auto parts for bigcar companies such as the Hindustan Motors. Theother products include fabricated materials such asgates, grills, windows, rolling shutters, and wheel-barrows. Plastic and nylon moulded materials, bothfor industrial production and the household utilitymarket, are on the increase. A special computercourse, conducted in collaboration with the NationalInstitute for Hearing Handicapped, trains youth foremployment in offices and local banks, etc. where areserved job quota is made available to the trainedhandicapped. Wool-knitting training is offered to girlschool drop-outs in the age group from 16 to 25.Housewives, mothers and widows from poor familiesare also trained under experts. This has promoted thegrowth of a wool-garment home industry in the village.Each trainee in the village is equipped with a machinefinanced by the local bank. Family members co-operate with one another in this income-generating andbread-winning activity. Young schoolgirl drop-outsare engaged in the production of uniforms for schoolsand factories in and around Calcutta. Jute fibre pro-

Case Studies

ducts are also catching up as they offer an environ-ment-friendly packaging material. With the help of theJute Manufacturers Development Council, theMinistry of Textiles and the UNDP, the institute andex-trainees are producing shopping bags, beach bags,doormats and jute fabric garments for internationalmarkets

Marketing outlets include casual off-hand sales,regular tie-ups with professional marketing houses inthe country who have agreed to sell the products of theinstitute through their marketing networks, mutualrapport with welfare organisations in and aroundCalcutta, such as the Calcutta Police Family WelfareCentre, Karuna Women Welfare S.K.I.P. (Skills forProgress), the Association of Private VocationalTraining Schools, Rotary and Lions Clubs, etc. as wellas public fairs and carnivals where the trainees gainpractical skills with regard to bargaining and sellingand, finally, door-to-door and footpath sales throughlicensed hawkers.

As regards outward impact, ex-trainees in air-condi-tioning and refrigeration are in such great demand thatfirms have already offered them employment. Youngladies trained in this branch are on the threshold ofsetting up their own self-employment units. Theinstitute also maintains a sales counter from wherevisitors and local people can purchase products.Finally, the institute encourages products tailor-madeto suit specific requirements.

The institute has reached a stage where graduated boysand girls have started going out and setting up theirown tiny enterprises. A few of them have their ownplace to house the machine. But the greater majorityhas no place to accommodate their enterprise or shop.A proposal has been formulated to set up a Mini-Industries Estate for these less fortunate ones. In1986, a small shed was hired and small rooms builtwherein these registered small-scale enterprise unitswere housed.

The Don Bosco Self-Employment Research Institute isa source of help to the youth of the neighbouringcommunity who desperately need a foothold in theirstruggle for employment and survival. The institute isseven years old. 75% of the trainees are Bangladeshrefugees (now permanent settlers) who are eagerlearners of work culture principles.

With the second phase of this institute starting shortly,it is hoped to provide training facilities in 25 income-generating trades to the needy youth. For those whohave passed the 10th class, but have no means to goahead, the institute offers a new course of studiesknown as Certificate of Vocational Education (CVE)

which is a formal course under the Government Pro-gramme. It includes courses in building constructiontechnician, air-conditioning and refrigeration, andoffice secretary. In this way, bridges are being builtbetween non-formal education and formal education.

Industrial Training Institute, Bangalore

In 1988, the World Bank agreed to assist the Indiangovernment in upgrading and modernising vocationaltraining institutes. The World Bank assisted projectincluded diversification of vocational training intohigh-technology and self-employment training andsupport. The principal motivation was the high un-employment level among industrial training institutecertificate craftsmen, apprentices and technicians, andthe realisation that these graduates must be diverted toself-employment. The self-employment component ofthe project was designed with the following criteria:• It would be for those who have successfully com-

pleted training courses.• It would emphasise practical production work

during the training phase.• It would be implemented by the existing vocational

training institutes (VTI).• It would cover demand based trades such as scooter

and motor mechanics, spray painting and tyreretreading.

• It would consist of intensive part-time training forthree to six months only, with 12 trainees perprogramme, under the guidance of part-timeinstructors from industry.

• It would include a module of entrepreneurshiptraining.

The project was launched in 1988 for 95 vocationaltraining institutes. Though the target was set at 4,170trainees, in the subsequent five years only 228 traineeswere admitted in 18 vocational training institutes. Theremaining 77 VTIs did not participate.

One of the participating VTIs, Industrial TrainingInstitute (ITI) Bangalore was evaluated to ascertain thereasons for this disappointing performance.17 Trainingcapacities were not fully utilised because of the lack ofcandidates who could pass the prescribed eligibilitycriteria (completed ITI and obtained a certificate). TheVocational Training Institute did not have the adequateflexibility and autonomy in decision-making in orderto restructure its courses and to be responsive to thelocal needs. Entrepreneurship training and small-busi-ness courses were not introduced as an integral part ofthe standard curriculum of vocational training insti-tutes. No follow-up assistance was provided. Nostipends were given. The ITI could not get anyone

17 Awasthi, Dinesh N., 1996


from industry and delivered self-employment trainingusing its own resources.

In the light of these failures, the author of the studypoints out the need to review the curriculum whichconsists of 26 components to be imparted in just 25hours. Vocational training institutes will have todevote significant resources to follow-up, includingstrong networking with government agencies, banksand other organisations in the enterprise supportsystem. They will have to explore alternative sourcesof funding, such as through the setting up of businesscentres with vocational training institutes, as thegovernment may find it difficult to provide sufficientlevels of support for self-employment promotionwithin VTIs.18

2.3 Indonesia

Technical College of Wood Technology, Semarang

In 1956, the Jesuit Order set up a carpentry/joinerycentre at a mission station in Central Java. By 1970that enterprise had evolved into the ‘Technical Collegeof Wood Technology’ (PIKA). Since 1963, it has beenmanaged by the Swiss master carpenter, Paul Wieder-kehr, although, at present, the school is run mainly byIndonesian experts.

The school offers a four-year training in learningworkshops for about 120 apprentices, and a two-yeartraining to 30 foreman trainees. Specialised teachertraining is offered to five to seven teachers in three totwelve-month courses. Upgrading courses are offeredin modern technologies for employees of localindustries, e.g., in surface treatment, upholstering,machining and wood drying/ seasoning. The schoolenterprise has 65 workers and salaried employees inwhich the 4th-year apprentices take their practicalexperience.

The school specialises exclusively in the vocationalfield of wood technology. The PIKA curriculum iscomprised of general and vocational subjects. Thefour-year course of vocational training is comprised ofbasic vocational training in the training workshop,specialised vocational training in the training work-shop and school enterprise, and practical training inthe production enterprise, and, finally, continuingvocational training for apprentices, which is voluntaryand subject to competitive selection.

Basic training begins with a systematic three-monthintroductory course in the methods of woodprocessing. Two projects are conducted at the end ofthe course. Specialised training is project oriented;

18 Ibid.

i.e., the trainees make marketable articles that cor-respond to their learning objectives and their relevanttraining levels. Forty percent of the products arestandard items and 60 percent are job orders.Performance tests measure achievements againstlearning goals. In the second and third years oftraining, importance is attached to enhancing thetrainees’ capacity for self-study, especially with regardto constructional ideas, design inputs and the com-position of work groups, thus increasing independencein the execution of work. In the fourth year, theapprentices are integrated into the school enterprise inorder to become familiar with the realities of theworking world while applying their newly acquiredskills toward helping to earn the school’s income.Upon successful completion of all four years, thestudents receive a diploma.

Learning is not directly related to production at thebasic level. However, this does not mean that theschool follows a rigid training-course programme. Forexample, the basic trainees make tools for their ownuse. The specialised level involves project work withthe requisite theoretical preparations and follow up.Theoretical instruction takes place at several levels. Inaddition to drafting and technological subjects, whichare organised out of the practical part, theory appearsto be the focus during workshop practice. Thestudents learn on products, which are produced for thedomestic market. The school enterprise, with 65specialists, produces high-quality furniture and interiorfurnishings. The profits serve to finance the school.In the school enterprise, the students undergo practicaltraining.

Both basic and specialised training initially concen-trate on the transmission of vocational skills at theindividual level; gradually they introduce variousforms of teamwork in accordance with the job ordersituation. There are permanent teams for standardwork and teams of varying composition for interiorfinishing work.

The average age of the new trainee is 17. The mini-mum level of education is typically lower secondaryschool, i.e., six years of primary school and three yearsof secondary school. Each applicant is required to takean aptitude test comprising of a written examination(language and mathematics), interview and drawingtest. The training and production institute iscomprised of 71% Catholics, 17% Protestants, 10%Muslims and 3% Buddhists. Trainees are highlymotivated, resulting from careful selection, high-quality training, and career development prospects.A key factor of trainee motivation is the teachers’ tech-nical competence and commitment to the students andtheir problems. About 95% of the school’s full-time

Case Studies

teachers are recruited from the PIKA alumni; theirtraining therefore reflects the school’s standards andincludes courses in didactics and methodology. As faras possible, each teacher is sent for upgrading at two-year intervals.

The school has a number of student, parent, teacherand union-like worker associations, which meet atregular intervals and discuss training matters andsocial affairs. The social element is especially im-portant, since about one quarter of the trainees comefrom socially disadvantaged families.

PIKA has developed two focal points of production:the interior finishing of residential, office and admini-stration buildings, and the construction of high-qualityresidential furniture. 65% are customer orders and45% are market orders. The equipment in the trainingworkshop consist of traditional Indonesian carpenters’benches. These are used in the basic training phase tohelp the apprentices identify with their local experi-ence. The school enterprise is geared to serial produc-tion. The essential work (machining and joining) isdone by graduates from the institute. Semi-skilledworkers are employed mainly for follow-up operationssuch as fine grinding, as well as for storekeeping,packaging and dispatching/transportation. The plan-ning groups control the planning of products and workprocesses, while the training workshops and produc-tion units are responsible for the actual production.A special production-control group ensures that theproducts are of good marketable quality. Personalcomputers have been installed for use in the staffs’planning work. In these planning groups, participatorymethods are used. Design teams comprising of oneteacher and two representatives from production andtraining are responsible for the purposes of innovatingnew products such as seats for physically handicappedchildren and for improving the work organisation.

PIKA maintains close ties with industry and thenational market. This facilitates the acquisition oforders and a fairly accurate assessment of what theconsumer wants and the market has to offer. Theschool’s close ties to trades and industry are its mainavenues of sales development. Advertising and publicrelation are important elements of sales promotion. Asan active member of the Indonesian Carpenters’Association, PIKA maintains close ties with indige-nous companies.

PIKA also offers consultancy services and trainingcourses. Many companies consult the school foradvice on planning the expansion and modernisation oftheir production facilities, particularly with regard tonew machines. PIKA has been co-operating for adecade now with a Wikrama Putra orphanage in

Ngalien, offering courses in woodworking, textileprocessing and typing. It also provides a home fordoubly handicapped children. All wooden repair workrequired at the Java Save the Children (SOS)children’s village is performed free of charge byPIKA. Whenever a new school is being established,PIKA offers practical assistance.

PIKA runs courses in mechanised wood processing onbehalf of the Ministry of Industry, and was commis-sioned by the Ministry of Education to draw up curric-ula for the relevant departments of Indonesia’s lowersecondary technical schools. PIKA has published 16textbooks for use in the subjects of wood technology,drafting, and furniture design, some of which are nowin their third or fourth editions. PIKA is also dedi-cated to the advancement of small and medium-sizehandicraft enterprises via the technical and commercialupgrading of the sector’s future employees. Theduration and breadth of training and guidance intheory-based working methods are specifically gearedto those technical cadres.

As regards the employment benefits from the schoolenterprise, PIKA graduates seldom have problemsfinding jobs. In fact, many companies try to recruitfuture PIKA graduates even before they finish school.Teachers are often enticed by private firms throughhigher emoluments than those afforded by the schoolenterprise. About 95% of all PIKA graduates findemployment in trades and industry, 15% become self-employed entrepreneurs, 15% teachers and instructors,15% become sales representatives for wood-processingmachines, paint-spraying apparatus and buildingmaterials. The drop-out rate is low (2%) over theentire four years of training.

One major problem is that the spread of such schoolsappears to be hampered by the small number of gradu-ates and the long duration of training. The otherproblem is the foreign, mainly western, character ofthe designs and interior decorations. Also few girlstend to remain in the employment market after theirtraining. The major teaching problem is that thestudents are not used to learning in a self-directed andactive manner.

The school is independent of government funding.The teachers, the institution and the working costs ofthe enterprise are financed through production ofgoods and services. The school receives Dutch andSwiss personnel aid. In future, the only foreign aidwill be confined to the continuing education of theteachers with regard to didactics and teaching methodsspecific to wood processing and design. The schoolsinitial endowment was provided by the Mission of theJesuit Order. Swiss development aid brought in


additional funds in 1971-1973 for construction workand outfitting. Misereor and the Zurich based FranzXavier Foundation supported further expansion of theschool, the former with the help of substantial sub-sidies from the German Federal Ministry for EconomicCo-operation and Development.

2.4 Papua New Guinea

Vocational Centres

In Papua New Guinea, most institutional vocationaltraining is offered by nearly 100 vocational centreswithin the national education system. In the mid-1980s they had some 6500 trainees that made up 0.7%of the population aged 12-25.19 In the system, voca-tional centre training is an alternative to post-primaryliberal arts education at lower secondary levels whichreaches 5.3% of the 12-25 age group. It aims to pro-vide two years of production-oriented training in trade,craft, domestic and business skills, with or withoutbasic education. Its students are mainly primarygraduates who are either drop-outs from secondaryschool, or else were not selected for the secondaryschool.

The administration of vocational education is theresponsibility of the provincial governments, while theNational Department of Education controls teachertraining and registration, inspections, overall policy,planning and capital investments. Finance for salaries,and some capital investment, is administered by theprovinces from the minimum unconditional grantawarded to each province from the central government.Vocational centres are also expected to generateincome to cover operating and recurrent expenditures.In contrast to other sectors of the education system, thevocational education curriculum development is themain responsibility of the provinces and the vocationalcentres.

The majority of vocational centres in Papua NewGuinea represent a simple training structure; i.e., offeronly few occupational specialisations: woodwork,agricultural products, metalwork and mechanics, foodprocessing, craft work, and business management.Locally specific training is especially pronounced inthe production of cash-crops. This includes instructionin cacao production and processing.

All the training is oriented directly or indirectly tomarket production. The extent to which practicaltraining is combined with the transmission of businessskills, as well as the didactics of training, varies fromcentre to centre. Practical experience associated withbusiness management (bookkeeping, accounting,

19 Preston, R., 1993

buying, selling) is possible primarily in centres thathave stores. The level of training in vocational centresis basic, and dependent on what can be achieved usinghand tools and materials available from local markets.Food production is oriented to the production of mealsand to meeting centre needs. Craft work includesmainly garment making.

Marketing is carried out either directly from centres orfrom local markets, depending on the nature of thegoods being manufactured. Earnings from the sale ofproducts and services depend entirely on the experi-ence and motivation of teaching and supporting staff;in particular, of centre managers.

The curriculum requirements are diverse withincentres. Teaching times and sequences of learning areusually not predetermined as most instructors arecarrying out commissioned work. As technologylevels are low and there are limited funds for equip-ment maintenance, teachers have to make the best oftheir working conditions.

Instructors are trained at an in-service training college.Women with a 10th grade qualification are trained fortwo years in practical skills, continuing basic educa-tion, and instruction in teaching methods. The men,experienced as master tradesmen (grade 10, two yearsof technical education, three-year apprenticeships, andpost-apprenticeship experience) are trained for oneyear in teaching skills with some exposure to tradeskills other than their specialisations. They are paidhigh-cost, full-time equivalent salaries for this training.Basic educational skills are not taught to them. Someof these men have taken up this training as the onlyoption after performing unsatisfactorily in previouscareers.

Inspectors have responsibility for monitoring vocatio-nal centre training across the country. They areresponsible for trade skill and cash-crop productiontraining. The women inspectors are usually in chargeof food processing and craft work.

There is a popular demand for the pre-employmenttraining offered in the vocational training centres.This has to do with the satisfactory returns againstinvestment and the opportunity cost of such training.There is also evidence of a positive impact of training,in that trainees do make use of the skills they learn.Most trainees with trade-skill training, carpentry andmechanics find employment in local firms or familybusinesses. Trainees from the agricultural courses areknown to establish small businesses in their owncommunities, many of which are, however, short-livedon account of the lack of community support, the lackof graduate maturity and experience as well as the lack

Case Studies

of external seed money. Women are less likely toattain employment than men. The majority of womenare in villages or living at home and are involved indomestic work, typing, or work in hotels. Some havetaken on leadership roles in the community organi-sations. Through the training of women in craft workand food production, women have been able toproduce a surplus from subsistence work. The skillsare also used for undertaking the repair of schoolbuildings.

2.5 Germany

MAN Salzgitter

The MAN Salzgitter model20, as it has come to bereferred to, has a long history. In 1974, a didacticmodel for imparting basic vocational competencieswas developed in MAN Salzgitter (a Germany com-pany) in co-operation with the Federal Institute forVocational Training, Germany.21 It was an attempt tofind a clear didactic alternative to the existing coursemodel of vocational education in the transmission ofbasic competencies. It included principles of totallearning and self-directed training. It proposed projectinstruction as a didactic model for imparting basicvocational competencies. ‘Vocational competencies’included specialised technical competencies as well asgeneralized competencies, such as social, communica-tive and didactic competencies. The generalizedcompetencies are presently being discussed under thecategory ‘key qualifications’. At the time of theirinception, however, the terms were used to describegeneralised competencies such as the ability forcreative thinking, problem-solving and group-orientedaction as integral components of vocationalqualifications for secondary pupils.

Through the translation of these generalised competen-cies into learning goals, it was possible to promote astrong base for the trainees’ further learning when seenfrom the longitudinal career perspective of youngstersas well as from the point of view of providing a greaterscope of entry into a broader cross-section of occupa-tions. People had greater possibilities of adapting inthe context of the changing world of work by applyingtheir generalised competencies.

The MAN Salzgitter model has ushered in a newdebate relating to the appropriate social profile of anew specialised worker who participates in a cluster ofautonomous work tasks with respect to self-directedand team-directed solutions to vocational, social, andcommunicative problems. This approach to basic

20 MAN, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg is a German

company for the construction of machines21 Wiemann, G., 1974

vocational competencies, since 1987, has resulted in anew ordering of occupational fields and occupationalgroupings which are not only viewed in terms ofspecialised technical skills. The new social profile is aconstitutive characteristic of the specialised workerand has contributed to overcoming the narrow descrip-tion of the factory worker as practised underTaylorism.

The MAN Salzgitter model has used this basic concep-tual understanding of vocational competencies infinding an alternative to the traditional course method,dominant in classical vocational training, in whichlearning sequences are additive and predetermined,and in which learning places a high value on repeti-tion. In contrast, project learning was proposed, inwhich learning places value on open and participatoryproblem-solving, application, market value and senseof work.

In the context of the history of the theory of vocationaleducation, there has been no dearth of attempts to gobeyond the classificatory learning model to the inte-grative learning model such as project-orientedinstruction and planning exercises. Complex forms ofintegrated learning organisations are however facedwith several inherent weaknesses. The course oflearning is difficult to plan and implement, the projectresults often do not meet the expectations of allparticipants and, above all, it is not possible to conducta strict evaluation of an individual’s performance. Thesocial conflicts between the group members and theteaching personnel can often be considerable. The factthat these systems provide very little regulation is animportant reason why such learning systems have notbeen realised. Teachers find them complicated, time-consuming and difficult to evaluate and, finally, theemployment world does not know what to expect fromgraduates. Furthermore, private employers can makelittle sense of participation and autonomy, especiallywhen they have been used to expecting adaptation andobedience from graduates of vocational institutions.The new method of learning and behaviour must,therefore, first of all find acceptance among teachersand private employers alike.

The MAN Salzgitter model proposes further that, withregard to the process of operationalisation of the inte-grated organisation of learning, due attention should begiven to the learning content and the trainees, and tothe specific competencies of teachers and instructors.For example, while it is better to classify the complexreality when new contents are being considered, it isadvisable to work with the principle of integratingcomplex knowledge when dealing with trainees thatare at an advanced stage of learning. Where coursesdeal with teaching the basic processes and the basic


technical competencies, it may be easier to agree onorganising learning around the classificatory methodof learning. For example, courses relating to thefunctioning of a lathe may be organised aroundturning, moulding, sharpening, scraping and drilling.Courses dealing with core skills such as instruction intechnology and technical mathematics may also beorganised around additive, linear and classificatoryprinciples.

Both these methods of learning may be termed ‘closed’and ‘open’ respectively. In classificatory forms oflearning, the learning goals and paths as well as thelearning results are closed or predetermined. In inte-grated systems, only the learning goals are predeter-mined; the learning paths which lead to the solution ofproblems as well as the learning results are open.

Lathe Machines for Indonesia

In connection with a research project, a small group ofGerman scientists from MAN Salzgitter’s VocationalTraining Institute visited the Technical College ofWood Technology (PIKA), Semarang. The education-al and economic success of this school enterprise hasbeen due to its autonomous orientation with regard torecruitment of teachers, selection of curriculum and ofproducts. An attempt is being made to promotetraditional Indonesian wooden crafts and designs inthis school enterprise. The basic training stageincludes working with indigenous tools and workbenches. Introduction to modern production methodsbegins only at a later training stage. The trainees areencouraged to revive the products and crafts of dailyuse which were traditionally made in home production.This initiative is rewarded through higher credits.These efforts aim at countering the effects of thecolonial epoch, during which cheap imports fromRepublic of Taiwan and Korea destroyed a good partof home production in traditional crafts.

The lathe machines from MAN Salzgitter meant forthe Technical Institute of Wood Technology aim torevive traditional designs in wood work.

After developing a prototype of the machine, a seriesof ten machines were delivered by the project groupfrom MAN Salzgitter to the Technical College ofWood Technology. The project group was responsiblefor settling all technical, economic and sales aspectswith its clientele, the Technical College of WoodTechnology, and discussing matters relating to theinstalling of the machines, the tropical conditions, thedelivery and the custom clearance. The project grouptravelled all the way to Java in order to introduce themachines and to advice on the instructions for theiruse. The travel costs were borne by the project group

itself which is independent from state funds andentirely dependent on itself for its own existence.

The openness of a learning organisation means partici-pation of the learning group in the evaluation of thelearning results. In other words, the beneficiaries oftraining participate in the decisions regarding the out-come of the project, both with regard to their ownneeds, as well as with regard to the needs of the insti-tute or for a social purpose. In the project ‘LatheMachine’, the project group MAN delivered/trans-ferred the project results to the Technical College ofWood Technology in Indonesia.

The dominant idea behind vocational education underthe MAN Salzgitter model was the concept of self-directed learning. This model was, however, expandedin order to incorporate new competency requirementsof production enterprises in the context of thechanging world of work. The concept of self-directedlearning was extended to include the concepts of teamwork, process-directed learning in production, andquality control in the work place.

The extension of the didactic concept aimed to resolvethe principal conflict between finding solutions tospecialised problems which arise as a result of thechanging world of work in the production enterprisesand the concrete learning structures in training work-shops, vocational training institutes and schools. Theconflict is most explicit with regard to the designing oflinear learning concept (courses and subjects) and theirrelationship to the authentic structures of production.Through the new didactic approach (such as projectinstruction), this conflict is however only partlyresolved. Therefore, a further extension of theMAN Salzgitter model was proposed: this included‘simulation’ or approximation of real work processesin vocational training.

In the project ‘Lathe Machines for Indonesia’ thelearning concept is taken one step further: taken out ofits simulated context and incorporated into a realclientele-oriented market situation. An attempt hastherefore been made to combine ‘production for themarket’ with vocational learning, even though the twosituations are inherently contradictory. This newdidactic model combines innovation, construction,production and vocational learning through theconcept of school enterprise.

With regard to the project ‘Lathe Machines for Indo-nesia’, the first step in the learning process includesthe creative construction of a lathe machine; thesecond step entails the monitoring of serial production.Both these steps are accompanied by an orientation tothe prospective clientele and is translated into its

Case Studies

market value. All stages are conducted throughmonitoring by the individual and group.

The above mentioned didactic elements are incorpo-rated in the MAN approach to combining educationwith production. These include the development of aprototype (innovation), the production and improve-ment of the prototype (construction), the serialproduction of 10 machines (production) and, finally,the orientation to an international market.

The international orientation includes three elements.Firstly, the members of the project group from MANSalzgitter come from four different countries (Kazakh-stan, Herzegovina, Greece and Germany). Secondly,the aim is to establish a permanent exchange betweenthe project group from MAN and the clientele inIndonesia with regard to setting and co-ordinatinggoals, and the improvement and delivery of hardwareand software. Thirdly, the testing of technical anddidactic material was done in Brandenburg (Germany),Bromberg (Poland) and Moscow (Russian Federation).

Vocational training at the MAN Salzgitter schoolenterprise is conducted in three stages:1. Basic vocational training (in metal trades and tech-

niques) in the vocational training school in Freden-berg. Learning methods include course workmethod and subsequently integrated projects;

2. Specialised vocational training in the trainingcentre at MAN Salzgitter. The didactic conceptused at this training stage is project training, i.e., in-house project and out-house project for the market(example: Lathe Machines for Indonesia);

3. Specialised vocational training in a productiveenterprise. The didactic concept includes practicaltraining in the workplace (private enterprise)accompanied by reflection in the training centre atMAN Salzgitter.

The training stages therefore combine course-orientedvocational instruction and project-oriented instructionwith on-the-job training in a private enterprise. Theacquisition of technical, social and planning compe-tencies is the focus of basic and specialised learninggoals. At the advanced level (the third level) impor-tance is given to those learning goals which emphasisepractical action and application of competencies foremployment and social mobility.

The project ‘Lathe Machines for Indonesia’ is situatedin-between the simulative and authentic learningsystems. Through the project ‘Lathe Machines forIndonesia’, the training workshop is at the watershedof transition from training workshop to a school-runenterprise. It is an autonomous profit-making unit.The production of lathe machines for the international

market is a first step towards autonomous marketproduction as a decisive component of MAN training.This has to do with solid economic reasons. But thecentral driving force has been a didactic one, i.e., theattempt to draw closer to authentic learning structureswhich have direct relevance to real work processeswithout giving up claims to classical didactic systemsof vocational education and training.

The MAN Salzgitter model provides an interestingcontrast to the technician school that forms part of theofficial development co-operation of the FederalRepublic of Germany. These technician schools(‘Gewerbeschulen’ or ‘Berufsfachschulen’) were sup-posed to be superior to the existing industrial traininginstitutes and polytechnics in developing countries dueto their close links to the requirements of the enterpriseand the emphasis on practical training which is part ofthe famous dual system of vocational education inGermany.22

However, by the middle of the 70s it became clear, thatthe transplantation of model technical schools indeveloping countries did not have the intended multi-plier effect. On the contrary, many conceptual weak-ness came to the fore: for example, those concerningcosts, bureaucratisation, disconnected from theworking reality in an enterprise, and insufficient prepa-ration and motivation of the students to find solutionsto the complex requirements of the world of occupa-tions and work.

2.6 Botswana

The Botswana Brigades

The Botswana Brigades are autonomous, community-based and government aided school-run enterprises.They engage in three main activities:• vocational training,• income-generating production,• community development and extension work.

The average number of trainees in a Brigade is 106.Currently there are 33 Brigades operating throughoutBotswana.

Training is provided in 16 different trades, such asbuilding, carpentry, textiles, office skills, generalmaintenance, computer studies and business studies.

22 The dual system of technical and vocational education is a

archetypal form of co-operation between public vocationaltraining institutions and productive enterprises. The Germandual system also combines learning with ongoing participationin a separate productive enterprise. The instructors areresponsible for the production process and for the training butare not involved in the economic activities.


The first Brigade was formed in Serowe in 1965through the efforts of Patrick van Rensburg, thenPrincipal of Swaneng Hill School. Young primaryschool-leavers who did not get a place in secondaryschools formed the core of the trainees. The schoolenterprises of the Brigades were an attempt to dealwith the primary school-leaver problem by givingtraining in a trade that would be of immediate benefitto the trainees as well as to the local community.

The training is a mixture of practical, theoretical andon-the-job training. Combining education withproduction is more than a pedagogical technique; it isalso a way to help offset the costs of training.Proceeds from the production efforts go towards thedevelopment and expansion of the Brigades. Inaddition, students and their instructors participate inthe construction of their own training facilities such asclassrooms, kitchens, workshops and hostels. In thetrue sense of the word, they learn to engage inproductive and economic activities.

The success of the first Builders Brigade in Serowe,where the Brigades movement started, has not so muchto do with government initiative and effort, but withindividual local communities. The idea spreadbecause it worked, and the community leaders saw thebenefit to their communities. Income from thetrainees’ production was their main source of revenueto cover the cost of training. In 1975, the governmentbegan to subsidise training. Currently, it provides theexisting and new Brigades with a financial subsidy insupport of their approved training programmes,calculated on per capita basis.

While the government has increased its financial con-tribution and technical assistance, the Brigades them-selves remain locally controlled and autonomousinstitutions. They are registered under the trust lawsof Botswana known as Brigades Development Trusts.A Board of Trustees, made up of representatives fromthe community, staff and trainees, nominees of theMinister for Education, and ex-officio members suchas the local District Officer, oversees the operation ofthe school enterprises.

Training duration is either two or three years in lengthdepending on the level of basic education of theparticipants. The curriculum is under constant evalua-tion given the increasing need for better trained craftworkers and artisans at all levels. There is an in-creasing demand for a greater diversification oftraining programmes as well as for a higher level oftraining. The introduction by the government of anine-year basic education programme for all – tenyears from 1996 – has shifted the focus of the Brigadesfrom Class VII leavers to junior secondary leavers.

Since the Brigades’ students now enter training with alonger basic education, its standards can be elevatedand curricula can be revised to take advantage of themore advanced trainees. As regards the organisationalmodel, the executive secretary is in charge of allmanagement functions and reports to the board oftrustees. A training co-ordinator is in charge of alltraining activities and unit managers are in charge ofall production activities. Close communicationbetween these officials is essential for optimal peda-gogical benefits from production-cum-training.Business managers in charge of finance andaccounting also offer financial advice and marketingassistance to the unit managers.

Production and commercial services account foralmost 76% of the total income of 11.3 million US$.The remaining 2.7 million consist of the governmenttraining subsidy, production income from trainingactivities, school fees and donor contributions.

Apart from the pure transfer of skills through produc-tion, the trainees learn basic life skills such as positiveattitudes towards work.

The Brigades graduates have a much better chancethan their counterparts from other institutions. Theyare trained to work, are more committed, and are notafraid to get their hands dirty.

Economic conditions have changed considerably sincetheir inception. When they began they were generallythe only providers, especially in rural areas, of goods,services, employment and training. Today, Botswanahas a more and more diversified commercial base.Small- and medium-scale enterprises are making them-selves felt even in rural areas. In many places, theBrigades are no longer the sole providers of goods andservices. They have to compete with private businessand must be concerned with costs as well as marketing.Without advanced business skills among Brigademanagers, Brigades may fall behind their competitorswith the consequence that the central concept oftraining with production will suffer.

In addition to this, the private business community hasalready expressed concern about the Brigades as com-petitors in local markets. They argue that this is unfaircompetition since the Brigades are state-subsidisedinstitutions.

The continued operation of these community-basedinstitutions has to do with the recognition by thegovernment that the Brigades form an integral part ofthe vocational training system in Botswana. Theprivate sector has not yet developed the necessarytraining capacity for an appreciable number of school-

Case Studies

leavers. As the cost in resources is just too high, it isnot possible for the government to fill this gap throughfull-time school-based training using formal vocationalmodels.

2.7 Kenya and Ghana

Small Business Centres in Vocational TrainingInstitutes in Kenya and Ghana

The Kenyan government, with the assistance of theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP) andthe International Labour Organization (ILO) has madeefforts to introduce entrepreneurship awareness tomany vocational training institute students. The majorobjective is to direct graduates towards self-employ-ment as a viable alternative to formal employment.Small Business Centres (SBC) have been set up inseveral vocational training institutes to promote small-enterprise development. At present, UNDP/ ILO issponsoring ten selected Small Business Centres. It hasbeen recognised that due to the short period oftraining, the lack of practical skills among instructors,and the artificial setting of the training, the skillsacquired by the Small Business Centres trainees willbe limited. Hence, some form of internship throughtraditional apprenticeship might help improve the levelof entrepreneurship training.23

The Ghana National Association of Garages organisesand manages the apprenticeship programme until theapprentices qualify to go for further training at KumasiTechnical Institute (KTI). The apprenticeship lastsfour years. The KTI programme for apprentices istwelve weeks and that for master mechanics is sixweeks. A programme on management and entre-preneurial skills is managed by Management Develop-ment and Productivity Institute (MDPI).24

The Small Business Centres in Kenya and Ghana havemade possible the co-operation between vocationaltraining institutes and traditional apprenticeships. Thevocational training institutes can co-opt the low costwork environment of the informal sector to enhancetheir students training and preparation for self-employ-ment and, through thoughtful and flexible program-ming, the vocational training institutes offer usefulcourses to upgrade the training and productive skills ofthe apprentice masters. Both vocational traininginstitutes and traditional apprenticeships have beenmade to converge in order to impart productive skillsfor the local economy.

23 Ferej, A., 1996, pp. 104-10524 Abban, C. K. and Quarshie, J. P., 1996

2.8 Algeria

The Offices for Practical Works inVocational Training

These centres25 are created specifically for aidingproduction activities in vocational training centres.They act as an intermediary between enterprises whichdemand products and the vocational training centreswhich provide them. They aim at identifying require-ments from enterprises, particularly when the demandfor products required is too large to be met by only onevocational centre; discussing and fixing prices anddeadlines; distributing the total demand among thevarious centres, taking into account their productioncapacity; and providing them with raw materials.

The most positive aspect of this experiment is that ittakes advantage of an ‘economy of scale’ in gatheringdemand from many different sources and productionfrom many small suppliers. In addition, by ordering agreat amount of raw materials, they can obtain betterprices and reduce production costs. The main problemis that production and trading concerns very often tendto prevail over pedagogical interests. This leads totrainees having to work on repetitive and monotonousproductions in which the pedagogical dimension is notusually very important.26

2.9 Cuba and Costa RicaVocational training and education for employment inthe modern sector is the main task of the governmentvocational training institutions in Latin America.Their training centres have primarily offered formalvocational training courses in the classical industrialskills, lasting up to three years, and addressingprimarily urban youngsters aged between 14 and 20.The enrolment requirement is secondary schooleducation. In view of the high percentage of secon-dary school graduates among young people, this doesnot appear to be a very restrictive formal barrier.However, a particular problem of government voca-tional training centres is that the training very oftenfails to meet the skill requirements in both the modernand the informal sector. A growing number ofgraduates end up often as unemployed or under-employed in the informal sector because they cannotfind employment in modern industrial enterprises. Atthe same time, the graduates are out of touch with theworking conditions and technical possibilities in smalland micro-enterprises and the graduates are not trainedto use simple technologies or to cope with the negativeinstitutional factors existing in the informal sector.

25 Offices des Travaux d’Application de la Formation

Professionnelle (OTRAFORM)26 Cabral de Andrade, Antonio, 1990. pp. 253-267


In view of this situation, some vocational traininginstitutions in the mid-1970s extended their focus byoffering non-formal training courses to improveemployment opportunities also for persons from theinformal sector.27 However, despite the differentobjectives and target group orientation, trainingcurricula remains mostly oriented to the classicalvocational profiles.

The National Pioneer Centre Havana, Cuba

The National Pioneer Centre at Havana operates as amajor vocational counselling centre. It is organised onthe basis of 17 broad fields of activities and 234specialisations. For each speciality there is a pro-duction unit operating under conditions very close tothose prevailing in actual enterprises: a small hotel, arestaurant, a radio and television studio, a dataprocessing centre, a sugar production plant, unitsmanufacturing products based on sugar cane, a farmetc. Each student spends six months on each speciali-sation, which means that in the course of the total four-year period of attendance at the National Centre, hecan make contact with and work on eight specialisa-tions. Each production unit receives materials andtechnical assistance from the ministry or service con-cerned. The National Pioneer Centre has contributedto a more conscious choice of the line of studies to bepursued in the educational system and, later, of thekind of occupation or profession taken up by students,thus minimising the losses due to cases of drop-outs orchanges of career, etc. It has also promoted easieradjustment to later work.

Mono-technical schools is an interesting pattern withinthe regular secondary system. They usually cater to awell-defined market slice and keep very intimaterelationships with the firms for whom they produceskilled labour and technicians. There are exampleswhere hotel and catering schools and beauty parlourschools are operated by vocational training insti-tutions. Such enterprises exist in most of the LatinAmerican countries, such as Brazil, Uruguay andColumbia, and are called Pedagogical Teaching Enter-prises.28 The trainees undertake a period of internshipin these enterprises, which offer their services to thegeneral public. The proceeds from these services arepaid to the vocational training institutions to which theenterprise in question is attached. As a general rule,the operating costs of these enterprises are very highand the earnings from the sale of services are an in-sufficient compensation.

27 Arnold, R., 1989, pp. 50-6828 Cabral de Andrade, A,. 1990

The Training-cum-Production Workshops‘Talleres Públicos’, Costa Rica

The public Training-cum-Production Workshops inperipheral urban areas and small rural towns in CostaRica is sponsored by the National Institute of Appren-ticeship – INA.29 The notion of public workshops wasa reaction to the dissatisfaction with existing trainingmethods in technical and vocational education insti-tutions which were oriented to the modern sector ofthe economy.

In 1981, the National Institute of Apprenticeship (INA)set up multi-purpose workshops. Some 20 workshopsprovided training to 20,000 persons annually. Thetrainees – men and women, of all ages (from the age of12 onward, also without any school education) – aretaught how to make articles they need for their ownuse for selling in the market. On completion of thetraining period, the trainees are encouraged to form co-operatives, partnerships or mini-businesses for devel-oping productive activities. The trainees have thepossibility to participate in a technical training whichis purpose-oriented with regard to their realistic occu-pation opportunities in wage or self-employment aswell as in the subsistence sector. The training isadapted to the learning opportunities and potentials ofthe trainees. The main advantage of this experiment isits flexibility on the one hand, and a high motivationfor learning on the other. Trainees have to make atime-wise (flexible) commitment to attend a minimumnumber of hours per month.

The skill training offered and the type of equipmentprovided are decided for each ‘public workshop’ withrespect to the local qualification needs and labourdemand, as identified beforehand by the INA. Theobjective of the technical training is to qualify theparticipants in order that they are better able to meettheir basic needs and thus perhaps reduce theirfamily’s need for cash income. A further objective isto promote the setting up of small co-operativebusinesses, promote self-employment and the improve-ment of commercial home production, the latterespecially aimed for women. A final objective is topromote industrial vocation-oriented training coursesqualifying persons for a wage-earning employment inthe modern or in the informal sector.

The training by local INA trainers takes place at twobasic levels: basic training for unskilled workers, aswell as further training for producers. Basic training isconducted either as individual advice upon request orin group work. As regards further training, smallproducers are allowed, after a simple test, to use thetools and equipment of the workshop for a small fee.

29 Ibid.

Case Studies

Instructors are available to encourage users to perfecttheir skills and improve their technology. Theproducers are expected to buy their own materials andsell the finished products.

The ‘Talleres Públicos’ often operate less as trainingcentres, but indeed more as ‘public workshops’, wherepeople with sufficient technical skills but no suitabletools use the equipment available at the workshopsfree-of-charge. In this function, these workshops areextremely useful, especially in areas with few artisanalworkshops. The main problems are linked with peoplewho attend the workshop only to produce, without

needing to be trained. They utilise, on a permanentbasis, part of the workshop’s capacity, preventingother potential trainees from having access to training.This experiment has been less successful in its attemptat creating co-operatives, partnerships and mini-business.

Yet, given a more stringent selection of beneficiariesso as to reach workers from the informal sector, thepublic workshops seem to be an interesting way ofproviding training and technical assistance for smallproducers.

3 Conclusions and GuidelinesSeveral approaches of combining learning with marketproduction have come to exist side by side within acountry. Many programmes have had to be recon-sidered within the framework of a diversified secon-dary education. There is also evidence of a situationwhereby various traditions and orientations cometogether and evolve into a new approach. Reconside-ration in light of changing needs and resource avail-ability is an inevitable and ongoing part of the processof educational change. The diversity of school enter-prises in the context of a single country is indicative ofthe freedom that now exists for schools to developtheir own initiatives, and of the status and importanceof school enterprise concepts in schools.

This section presents conclusions and guidelinesdrawn from the case studies on school enterprises.The issues to be discussed include the organisationalform of school enterprises, their learning organisation,learning outcomes, support infrastructure, curricularprocesses, integration of production processes in thecurricula, teaching staff, external relations, the eco-nomic and social impact of school enterprises, theregulatory framework, financial options for schoolenterprises, and the role of state and non-governmentalagencies in the management and financing of schoolenterprises.

3.1 Rough typology ofschool enterprises

A basic principle of school enterprise is the carefulbalancing of educational outcomes and the economicoutput. The case studies represent examples of thebalance that has been reached, giving adequateattention to market, enterprise, profit and income-generating capacity while, at the same time, acknowl-edging the primacy of imparting related specialisedtechnical and general competencies (knowledge, skills,attitudes and values) directly linked to employment.

School enterprises can be roughly classified in termsof those that1. give priority to economic goals;2. give priority to educational goals; and3. those that attempt to reach a balance between

economic and educational considerations.

Placing priority on economic goals

The economic and financial situation of many schoolenterprises may require that priority be given toproduction goals. The recruitment of instructors fromenterprises and the resulting socialisation problemsconcerning patterns of thinking and behaviour can alsobring about a situation in which school enterprises aredominated by economic considerations. The pressureexerted by the partner enterprises to achieve specificmarket goals with the help of the school enterprisemay be another factor that creates a situation in whicheconomic considerations may dominate. In some ofthe Chinese examples there is a growing tendency toemploy professional workers in addition to students inorder to meet the quality demands of the market.

Placing priority on educational goals

On the other hand, the learning climate in a schoolenterprise, the prevalence of curricula and examina-tions, and the socialisation of teaching staff (recruitedfrom higher education institutions) can bring about asituation in which learning dominates while productionis neglected. There are, however, only a few exampleswhich indicate this trend.

Balance between economic andeducational considerations

Case studies have shown that most school enterpriseshave evolved diverse approaches to reaching a balancebetween economic, financial and educational goals.For example, in Indian case studies, some schoolenterprises have adopted the notion of the semi-com-

Conclusions and Guidelines Page 31

mercial enterprise. According to this notion, thetraining of students is given priority in the manage-ment of school enterprises. In normal circumstances,the school enterprises would gain some profit, which isgood in itself. Yet the pursuit of profit is not taken asthe major purpose of such enterprises as it would inter-fere with the fundamental goal of training students.

In the Indonesian example, the outcome is separationof training and market production. In this variation,the balance between economic and educational con-sideration can be reached when the school’s pro-duction unit produces the quantity that can be sold inthe market, whereas the teaching workshop producesthe quantity (for market and internal needs of theschool) that is required for teaching and practising.Production for the market is used as a vehicle to reachthe complete learning goals, i.e., a learning situation iscreated that exists in the context of genuine productionfor the market – one that is conducive to learningcomplex behavioural patterns, gathering relevantexperience and dealing with it in an abstract, reflexivemanner.

The challenge of the Botswana Brigades is also to findways to optimise production while providing trainingopportunities. Since some repetitive productionprocesses lose their training value very quickly, someBrigades have hired permanent production workers tohandle routine jobs. Trainees participate only in taskswhere the training benefit is high.

3.2 Structures of school enterprisesA wide diversity of structures and focus is to be foundin programmes of school enterprises, depending onwhether production for the market takes place pre-dominantly in an enterprise or in a learning workshop,and whether the learning takes place in a school/training institute or in an enterprise with training func-tions. The two contexts – learning workshop andenterprise – should be seen as pure institutional formswith a relatively high degree of functional specialisa-tion, but whose nature changes according to the natureand degree of interaction with the other domain. Thekey conceptual frame is the interaction betweenlearning and production and its location in thecurriculum.

Most school-based programmes at the secondaryschool level combine learning with production in alearning workshop. The emphasis here is on a com-bined learning and production place. The productiondivision also serves as a training workshop.

In some schools, experiences with the logistics ofproduction, and the continuous dilemma betweenpedagogic and economics have led to a separation of

types of activities. For example, a distinction is madebetween productive activities as an integral part ofcertain subjects and workshops where the emphasiswould be on developing skills, and production projectswhich are separate from the curriculum but still pro-vide clear opportunities to apply what was previouslearned in workshops and class.30 Drawing suchorganisational boundaries, and defining clear objec-tives, has eased the problem of interference. Trainingtakes place in a training workshop, whereas productiontakes place in an enterprise, and the two contexts arelinked in several ways. The emphasis here is also onthe combination of education with production, butproduction for the market takes place in a separateenterprise attached to the school or training institute.31

The enterprise serves not only the production of goodsand services for the market, but also as a location forapplication of skills learned in the learning workshops.

3.3 Organisation of learningSchool enterprises incorporate elements from severalformal and non-formal modes of organising learningand training for skill development. Formal vocationaltraining is but one way of training. Enterprise-basedtraining, such as on-the-job training, the apprenticeshipmethod and ‘attachment learning’32 are modes oftraining that complement formal training methods.These refer to an attachment of the learner to theperson or agency providing the training. Recentstudies have investigated the contribution of theseinformal processes of learning to skill developmentand their relevance to future employment.33 Formal orinstitutionalised training contributes only in a verysmall way to skill development and employment indeveloping countries, especially in the informal sector.

An important function of school enterprises is tosupplement on-the-job training. It will be useful there-fore to elaborate the main features of the variousmodes of organising learning and training.

Enterprise-based learning

Apprenticeship method

The traditional ‘apprenticeship’ has the followingcharacteristics. A master craftsman takes on one ormore trainees to be initiated into his craft, and theywork with him under his instruction and guidance.The apprenticeship contract specifies a period of sometraining during which the apprentice will work for themaster craftsman. At the end of that period, the formerapprentice becomes a full-fledged journeyman who

30 For example, the schools in Zimbabwe supported by ZIMFEP.

Conradie, J.A., 198931 Greinert, W.-D. and Wiemann, G., 199332 Bowman, M. J. and Anderson, C. A., 197633 Singh, M., 1996

Conclusions and Guidelines

can take on his own apprentices. The journeymanprovides subsistence for the apprentice and, as hegains in skill and experience, he will receive some pay.Training and production take place within the pro-duction enterprise. The organisational structure istherefore determined to a very large extent by the workorganisation and technology level of the enterprise.Learning and working are given approximately thesame attention and completely integrated with eachother.

Traditional apprenticeship systems are essentiallyvocational-entry arrangements and long-term. Entrantshave no considerable prior grounding in generalunspecialised school learning.

The trainee learns by the auto-didactic learningmethod, i.e., the ability to learn through trail and errorand learning by doing. He informally imitates whatgoes on around him in an actual production situationby watching, copying, participating and helping. Thetrainee enters into social ties with the master providingthe training. The work of the trainee is practical andvocationally relevant. It forms the basis of thetrainee’s own future livelihood. The products can bemarketed. Traditional apprenticeships provide an idealenvironment for stimulating enterprise networksneeded for later self-employment.

In traditional apprenticeships, the same master crafts-men, journeyman or experienced worker responsiblefor the production process and economic activities alsotransmits skills and knowledge to the trainees. He alsotakes orders, negotiates with customers, passes onparts of his own work to the trainee, and plans thework and work sequences, often contributing to thework himself and helping the trainee. He monitors thework and evaluates the work outputs.

The traditional apprenticeship training in the informalsector has been an important way to complementtraining in business centres of public training institutesin Ghana and Kenya. The case studies from these twocountries indicate the volume of training undertakenthrough traditional apprenticeships despite theacknowledged limitations of the apprentice masters astrainers.

Traditional apprenticeship is not confined to theinformal sector. The modern sector also has largenumbers of individuals who acquire their skills in-formally on-the job without support from the formaleducational system. There is clearly a merit inexpanding the intersection between these two trainingsectors.34 It has been shown that communication of the

34 Ferej, A., 1996

rudiments of business know-how in association withapprenticeship training and participant observation,rural or urban, seems to have been generally success-ful. On the other hand, business know-how as a com-plement to school-based or non-formal training isusually both ineffective and expensive.

In developing countries, apprenticeship has often beenviewed as an aspect of industry rather than ofeducation. The apprentice in the informal sector is alow-cost labourer ultimately rewarded for years ofmenial service. The apprentice is indentured and onlyafter the trade skills are acquired can the apprenticebecome free to travel (‘journeyman’). This model oftraining served industry well when much of the labourneeded was unskilled. But today, industry is movingtowards requiring a greater need for higher skills.There is a need, therefore, for school enterprises toadopt an apprenticeship model that is not based uponthe cheap workforce model of the developing countriesinformal sector, but instead one in which activelearning is designed to develop a variety of processskills in the workforce. Such on-the-job training isrecognised as a part of the educational system when itis deliberate rather than accidental. All jobs, whereproductivity and output and innovation are influencedby experience, have an educational component.Wasted opportunity, lost productivity and diminishedprofit result when this accidental on-the-job educationis ignored.35

School enterprises which recognise the role of on-the-job training are those with established apprenticeshipprogrammes. Important dimensions of apprenticeshipsin school enterprises are:• Apprenticeships refers to the acquisition of a voca-

tional skill through work under the supervision ofestablished practitioners.

• Apprenticeships vary substantially in duration,covering both artisan and craft skills as well as bothcommercial and manual skills. In the case of PIKA,the apprenticeship is driven by the fact of the largenumber of complex moves which must be learnedto complete a process. PIKA takes on apprenticeswho, for example, ultimately are expected to beable to create the organ single-handedly. Others aremotivated by a commitment to learning differentaspects of the trade. Building trades people, likeplumber and electricians, seem committed to thiskind of on-the-job training programmes.

• In fully-fledged apprenticeships, attachment to anenterprise continues with utilisation of theincreasing skills (manual and commercial skills)acquired over an extended period of learning.

35 Landgren, C. R., 1993


• Apprenticeship arrangements commonly involveacquisition of skills that have wide applicability,hence are portable across agencies and activities.

• Apprenticeships entail some sort of recognisedobligation, formal or informal, on the part of thetrainee. The alternative is payment of fees bytrainee to master.

• The apprentice model of learning is an effectivemodel of learning in school enterprises, as therewards for the learned action are substantial. Theyoung learner is the most easily taught. The youngapprentice learner learns his basic competencyskills in the context of genuine work context. Thiscontrasts with most existing vocational trainingprogrammes in which the rewards early on arelimited, and in which students are older and havelearned the basic competency skills out of context.

On-the-job training

Here a distinction is often made between transferableskills in a competitive state and firm-specific skills thatreduce the chances of labour turnover. There aresimilarities between apprenticeship systems and firm-specific on-the-job learning. There are investments bytrainees in foregone uses of their own time, whether ornot they pay fees, even as there are also costs incurredby the trainers. And there are, in varying degrees,attachment of the learner to the master or to themodern employer. However, unlike traditionalapprenticeships, on-the-job training in most largemodern enterprises is a continuing process that canupgrade skills, counter obsolescence and prepare forinnovations within the enterprise. Employees aregiven incentives in order to check voluntary turnover,whatever the extent of specialised on-the- job trainingand learning.

Several problems, including staff recruitment andretention at school enterprises, could be reduced bygiving modern firms and informal sector craftsmen alarger role in the training process. By virtue of theircloser contact with the market, an employer-operatedtraining could be more efficient in the selection oftrades. Less encumbered by formal regulations andbureaucratic procedures, private firms and small enter-prises can establish, expand, adapt or discontinuetraining courses with greater speed and at lower cost.Student motivation to effectively integrate theory withpractice is enhanced by greater proximity to the actualworking situation and the immediate presence of aprospective employer.

The SENA-type programmes in Latin America wereinitially established by employer groups to provide off-the-job training and skills upgrading, and largeemployers were taxed to cover costs of the programme.The linkages with employers ensured relevance in the

job markets. These programmes have a variety ofcomponents, for both short-term training meant tointroduce new but relatively low levels of skills, andfor adults who wish to upgrade their skills to appren-ticeship levels and long-term programmes for skilltraining after apprenticeships.36

The dual vocational training method is a system inwhich practical training takes place in workshops ofprivate enterprises, while the corresponding vocationaltheory training is done in normal, not necessarilygovernment, training centres. In some Latin Americancountries, the primary objective of the co-operationbetween the government vocational training insti-tutions and private enterprises is the training of skilledworkers for the demand of modern industrial enter-prises. In Nigeria, an experiment has been made inintroducing the dual system of vocational training byextending informal apprenticeship training in smalland micro-enterprises through government organisedtheory lessons, as well as efforts by the government tointroduce certain standards also for informal voca-tional training in private enterprises.37

The idea underlying the dual vocational training is topromote enterprise based vocational training and, atthe same time, shift the responsibility for vocationaltraining as far as possible from government-run voca-tional training institutes to the private sector. It aimsto promote a stronger emphasis on practical vocationaltraining in ‘real’ workshops of private industrial enter-prises, and to qualify graduates and make them morecompatible to the needs of modern industry. It ishoped ultimately to increase the total number of ap-prenticeship places as well as the subsequent employ-ment opportunities of the apprentices.

Critique of in-enterprise training in the formaland informal sectors

Although there is a strong case for locating training asnear as possible to enterprises, it is equally importantto realise why it is necessary in the first place toremove training from the hands of entrepreneurs.38

Wiemann and Greinert refer, in their vocational andpedagogical critique of enterprise-based vocationaltraining, to the structural problems of trying to com-bine in-enterprise plant operations with the necessitiesof modern learning.39 The operational and techno-logical structure of the enterprise is geared to opti-mising the production of goods such as to satisfy thedictates of market competition rather than beingtailored to the necessities of vocational training. Theenterprise’s business situation is market-dependent

36 Jimenez, E. et.al., 198937 Boehm, U., 199038 King, K. 1985, 43 pp.39 Greinert, W.-D. and Wiemann, G. 1993


and, hence, limited to the specialisation of only a rangeof products. This results in an equally limited learningpotential. Since the enterprise regards its employeesas producers of goods, they are able to cater to thetrainees’ vocational learning needs only as a sideoccupation. In view of the permanent pressure fromthe market, vocational learning is pushed into marginalfunctions. The method of demonstration and copyinghas certain disadvantages. The master craftsman,journeyman or experienced worker shows how aproduct is to be manufactured and the student imitateswithout questioning. The student learns only what istaught in the production course but is unable to usethis knowledge to solve a new problem or produce anew product. Students should be able to experimentwith new products which may have a better chance inthe market, rather than to orient to the already over-filled demand for certain goods. The introduction ofnew products in apprenticeship programmes is oftenconfronted with problems, such as high capital require-ments and the lengthy training required, which crafts-men can hardly afford even where students pay a fee.

The dual vocational training has also come undercritique in its application in developing countries.As regards the training aspect, private enterpriseshardly train more apprentices than their ownimmediate need, let alone employ them after training.Furthermore, many enterprises, especially medium-sized and smaller ones, have difficulties, at leastinitially, to cope with the requirements related toworkshop-based vocational training, not only forinternal organisational and financial reasons, but alsobecause of the inadequate number of pedagogicalqualified skilled workers who could be assigned thetask as instructors. At the same time, external mentorsare normally not accepted as instructors on the part ofthe enterprises to train their workshop staff in dualvocational programmes. They are unlikely to be keenon making their situation even more difficult by takingon young people from the informal sector, who oftenhave low levels of schooling, as apprentices. Therewill certainly be cases where payment of an appren-ticeship grant during the enterprise-based training willenable school graduates to take up formal vocationaltraining. But, on the whole, the dual vocationaltraining provides no better chance for an occupation-oriented qualification than the centre-based formalvocational training since it confronts most personsfrom the informal sector with just the same formal andde facto formal enrolment restrictions.

The assumption that a shift of the larger part of voca-tional training into private enterprises would improvethe training quality, increase the number of apprentice-ships, and open employment opportunities for thegraduates may prove to be correct in individual cases.

On the whole, however, the number of jobs will onlyincrease if the overall economic development creates acorresponding labour demand.

Learning organisation outside of genuinework situations

School enterprises have also incorporated several typesof training methods that have evolved for teachingvocational competencies outside of genuine worksituations. These basic types include the trainingcourse method, practical learning, and the projectmethod. These forms of training have evolved insituations existing outside of the real work process andeconomically imposed constraints, and constitute anessential form of training conducted in vocationalcentres, industrial training institutes and off-enterprisetraining centres.

Vocational education theory according to thetraining course method

Training according to the training course method isexpected to supplement the training that is conductedthrough the production process within school enter-prises as well as within enterprises external to theschool. It is a method that is crucial for impartingbasic vocational competencies in school enterprises.

In school enterprises, the training course method hasthe aim of transmitting certain course material in apredefined period of time. This entails a detailedplanning of the course, keeping in view that the theoryelements are directly linked to the practice elements.This contrasts with the traditional training coursemethod which usually concentrates on theory withoutlinking it to practice. Although occupational problemsare broken down into learning sequences andstructured according to theoretical considerations, theyare not completely cut off from the real work context.As instructors are often those who are also involved inthe production process and economic activities, thelearning is not separate from the work context. Invocational training centres and industrial traininginstitutes with enterprises or business centres attachedto them, vocational education theory is usually underthe direction of full-time instructors. In such placesbasic vocational training is normally geared to certaintypes of learning, e.g. introductory courses in welding,hydraulics, pneumatics, etc.

Unlike the separation of vocational learning and pro-duction process in the traditional course method, theattachment of enterprises to training institutes attemptsto promote the trainees’ relations to the realities of agenuine job situation. The idea is to prevent thetrainees’ relationship to the genuine job situation frombecoming stunted as a result of attending a separateplace of learning for too long a time.


The duration of learning through the training coursemethod depends on the learning ability of the trainees.Compared to underachievers requiring much personalattention and continuous support, self-assured, creativeachievers find it easier to learn a trade in an on-the-jobsituation and therefore require less time in basic voca-tional training courses. It also depends on the type oflearning course. Compared to the curricula in wood-working and metalworking with a heavy bias onempirical and experimental work, curricula in elec-trical trades with a substantial theoretical componentare more suitable for teaching through the coursemethod (Wiemann, 1996).

An important advantage of training course learningwithin school enterprises is to prepare the trainee for aplurality of related vocations and occupations. How-ever this method can become disadvantageous whenthe learning is dominated by the routinisation of workprocedures with respect to the specification of learningsequences, consistency of learning and, above all,predetermined learning achievements. Such a con-stellation overlooks the operational reality and theproblem-solving processes for which vocationaltraining is supposed to systematically prepare thetrainee.

The combination of vocational learning and the enter-prise demands special didactic systems, demands thatthe teaching staff be specially prepared for this par-ticular kind of combining training in vocational theorywith the school’s production processes and economicactivities. Relatively brief vocation-specific familiari-sation normally suffices if the instructor in questionhas had sufficient practical experience.

Another way of organising school instruction in schoolenterprises is to develop courses in relation to thegenuine job situation in industrial firms and in mediumand small-scale enterprises. This is followed inschools in France40 and has produced a new idea aboutthe design and organisation of school instruction.

Practical or active learning in training workshops

Training workshops and science laboratories arebecoming more common in almost every educationalendeavour associated with school enterprises, and‘hands-on’ is a popular description of in-servicetraining programmes. Even in the development ofcritical thinking, the importance of active and con-textual learning has been recognised.

Practical or active learning makes the operation of theproduction processes and jobs simpler than when thesehave to be done by reading books or memorising the 40 Bruyère, A., 1989 pp. 45-46

works which describe action. The opportunity towatch each process being completed, to hold each ofthe pieces, and to get the feel of the materials makesjob tasks relatively simple. The simplicity of someapparently complex processes is illustrated in thepractice of medicine. In describing surgical training,doctors often talk of ‘watching one, doing one, andteaching one’ during their internships. This shows thatthere is nothing that can match active participation forlearning process-oriented subjects.

Project method and team work

Whereas theoretical learning follows primarily thetraining course method, the practical skills in trainingworkshops follows the method of team work andproject work. The learning organisation in the projectmethod is built around learning goals (competencies)whereby the learning contents are adapted to thelearning goals. Theory has only a supporting functionand is not an end in itself. It enables the trainees tounderstand their trade better.

For some time now, the project method of training hasbeen increasingly supplanting the training coursemethod in many school enterprises.41 In the MANSalzgitter project, four students make up a projectteam. Their task is to independently design, constructand produce a complex technical system in the field ofapplied industrial automation. Planning, organisationof production, purchase of components, and cost cal-culation are important elements of the project work.The project work is examined and evaluated and it hasdirect relevance to employment in the industry.

This didactic system includes selection of project tasksfrom the flow of production. This requires flexiblecombinations such as temporary integration of theo-retical and practical learning in the form of workshopgroups, and the development of special learning andteaching aids for both the teaching staff and thetrainees.

Group activities and team work play an important rolein the project method. This helps in avoiding the dis-advantages of structuring that is common in traditionalcourse training. Group activities and team workthrough the project method not only promote thenecessary technical skill and knowledge, but also thenecessary attitudes, behaviour and orientations. Co-operative forms of production are necessary inpromoting mutual help, experience exchange andcritical thought.

In comparison to the training course method, thelearning sequences in the project method cannot beplanned in detail. The prescribed learning objectives 41 Greinert, W.-D. and Wiemann, G., 1993 p. 66


cannot be as well-controlled and secured as in course-learning situations and in vocational school subjectlessons. Teaching staff often perceives such instruc-tion as overly time-consuming and too unstructured,and the fact that different teachers are expected tofunction in a team may serve as a source of conflict.

In some cases, the project method has been introducedright from the inception of designing school enter-prises. This aids in achieving an economic viabilitysituation. Through the project method, trainees areinvolved in the selection of products and serviceswhich can be used locally, taking into account thesurrounding market for these products. Productanalysis and production planning are incorporated atthe beginning of the training. Planning and monitoringof economic activities are therefore taken care of rightat the planning stage itself.

The project method encourages team work betweenstudents and teachers who, through their combinedefforts, first conduct a survey of the region with regardto what trades the community requires, the employ-ment/self-employment potential of the trades, localresources, geographical and climatic factors, andfuture projections of industrial and infrastructuregrowth relevant to the region.

The project proposal contains details of organisation,location, type of vocation, market potential andlinkage, names of enterprises practising the relevantvocation in or near the location, whether vocationaltraining is already being imparted in the trade inquestion, outline of the teaching requirements, link-ages with other institutions involved in the vocationwith the aim of optimising resource convergence,scope and objectives, and the requirements proposed:financial and infrastructure, possible resource alter-natives, income expected, and time schedule ofproject.

Training according to modular learning units

Training according to modular learning units has alsobeen employed in some case studies of school enter-prises (Costa Rica). This training is based largely onmodular learning units similar to the ‘Modules ofEmployable Skills’ (MES) developed by the ILO.42

The MES are based on vocational profiles prevailingin industrialised countries, the overall qualificationsfor which are respectively segmented into partialqualifications which can be applied separately. It ispossible to obtain the overall qualification in onevocational profile by successively acquiring all partialqualifications. Another possibility is to acquire onlypartial qualifications from several vocational profiles:a kind of cross-vocational qualification which often 42 See International Labour Office (ILO), 1982

tends to meet best the qualification needs of the targetgroups in question. MES qualifications are possible intraining courses as well as in private studies. The ILOhas elaborate training manuals for students andadditional training material for MES instructors.

One advantage of the MES training approach is that itallows the choice of individual learning programmessuited to the specific qualification needs, starting levelof technical skills, and time constraints of each partici-pant. On the other hand, as MES are especiallydesigned for self-training purposes, it may be too indi-vidualistic an approach for participants from theinformal sector, who need guidance on account of theirparticular learning disadvantages. The use of MESlearning materials not only requires ‘hard skills’ inreading, writing and mathematics, but also the abilityto learn systematically and without guidance on thebasis of logically structured didactic material. Personsfrom socially disadvantaged groups may not have thesebasic educational competencies. Even skilled crafts-men who can read, write and do calculationsreasonably well may have difficulties in thinking inabstract terms and understanding technical drawingswithout any guidance. A further difficulty is that,since MES has been developed on the basis ofindustrial technologies, the training and learning ofMES skills and their application at work requires toolsand equipment, often a workshop, which, at best, willbe found in modern industrial enterprises, but normallynot in micro-enterprises. Another shortcoming of theMES approach is the segmentation of skills. As aresult technical inter-dependencies are not easilyrealised and understood. Because theory is not taught,learning is reduced to practical training.

In the ‘Talleres Públicos’ (Costa Rica) these short-comings can be partly offset, in principle, by techni-cally and didactically trained instructors. The generaltendency is, however, for people with little previoustraining and education not to start a training course atall for fear of dropping out.

3.4 Competency profile, learning out-comes and learning goals

Skill components of vocations in school enterprisesvary in their degrees of general and specialised appli-cability, and in the depth of both the general and thespecialist components, which might be conceptualisedin terms of the time taken in acquiring those skills.

General competencies are applicable in several con-texts. Practical skills are functional skills, notprimarily vocational skills in the narrow sense. Theyserve both to facilitate more specialised learning andadaptation. Generalised skills are either generallyapplicable or relatively specialised: practical skills


and general competencies at a personal level of aware-ness are generally applicable; on the other hand, anunderstanding of the world of work: for example, anunderstanding of the structure and processes of work,its technologies, its relation to production, or its eco-nomic, cultural and political context have a morespecific applicability. In practice, one finds a corre-spondence between generalised skills and vocationalskills.

General components of vocational skills have directrelevance to work. Many of these are actually ‘processskills’ whereby the product is of lesser importancethan the way the trainee goes about doing things: forexample, the scientific approach to occupationaltrades, the ability to identify problems and exploresolutions or to plan and execute one’s work.

Generalised components of technical and vocationalskills include:1. Communication skills: these are of ever rising

importance in all countries in today’s world;2. Entrepreneurial competencies: organisation of a

small workshop, material acquisition, price calcu-lation, bookkeeping, product marketing;

3. Cognitive skills: technical knowledge, theoreticalknowledge, linguistic skills, mathematical skills,natural sciences which are directly applied andrequired in practice;

4. Social competencies: co-operation and interactivecommunications at work, the ability to handlestructural and behavioural conflicts and the abilityto settle conflicts; ability to establish vertical andhorizontal contacts within the structure of theenterprise as well as outside the enterprise;

5. Organisational competencies (managerial capa-bilities) include understanding the managementstructure and work organisation of the enterprise;

6. Occupational problem solving (job performance):possible only by means of learning to integratevarious techniques, social processes, various work-places, various social relations, various manage-ment and administrative functions (job scheduling,job evaluation, insurance, health) and various pro-duction and entrepreneurial skills.

‘Workplace instruction’43 is the term used to describethe need in the modern workplace for basic compe-tencies such as oral communication skills, adaptabilityskills, development skills, collaborative skills andleadership skills. Although the context within whichthis term has come to be used is modern industry andits role in supporting education in basic competencies,school enterprises have a similar role to play in pro-moting basic skills (reading, writing and computation),

43 Carneval, A. P. et. al., 1990

collaborative skills (interpersonal relations, teamworkand negotiation); communications skills (listening andspeaking); development skills (building confidence,motivating, setting goals and planning) and, finally,adaptability skills (resourcefulness and creativethinking).

The competency profile, i.e. the mix of generalised andvocational skills, imparted by a school enterprise ulti-mately depends on the form of learning adopted.Ideally, once the aims of the programme have beenclarified, these should be translated into a range ofspecific skills, knowledge, understanding and attitudeswhich the programme can help to develop. A criticalstep in the design of the curriculum would be toidentify, on the basis of a broader conceptualisation ofemployment related skills, the desirable range of skillsand knowledge outcomes, then to operationalise thesein terms of the learning situations pupils would need toget involved in. For example, the awareness of factualmethod is better achieved through the vocationalcourse method. On the other hand, the project methodis more suited for the use of information to solve newand unanticipated (not in the text) problems. Appren-ticeships are a good way to acquire application skills,i.e. to learn to apply factual information.

Skill-level scaling needs to be based on duration anddepth of training in both generalised and specialisedcomponents of vocational skills. This approach isdifferent from the one that has been followed in diver-sified prevocational education programmes: first, todecide to have a new subject, then, to specify what toput into it.

In many countries, a great weakness in curriculumdevelopment agencies is their lack of ability to come toterms with the non-technical transferable competen-cies, and insufficient scrutiny of how to promotebehaviour or attitudes such as problem-solving, teamwork or adaptability. The major requirement would benot only more resources but a fundamental change inteaching-learning processes: general capabilities aretaught in the context of work processes, rather than thetwo being seen as belonging to separate locations andlevels of the vocational training and education system.The priority here is not to introduce a separate subject,such as ‘enterprise education’ giving an academictreatment of enterprise and business topics, but ratherto define non-technical competencies – inculcation ofinitiative, risk-taking, self-reliance, perserverence,identifying and solving problems – in relation to actualschemes of production for the market in the schools.Skills like designing and problem-solving can only beadequately developed if pupils have opportunities tobe directly involved in such activities. Given theconstraints of schools, this provides a special chal-


lenge to curriculum planners and teachers. Its neglectwould greatly affect the credibility of programmescombining education with production.44

Offering vocational training in school enterprises is farmore than buying tools and machines and hiring someinstructors. It requires the creation of an environmentwhich nurtures the learning process.45 It also entailstransmitting the values contained in occupations.Vocational education is not tools or market production,just as academic education is not books. Cleaning theshop and oiling the machines should be part of theritual of good workshops. This liturgy of cleaning is ameans to transmit the values of the occupation.Trainees in school enterprises may begin by producingsomething rough and poorly finished, but they areexpected to be perfect. Those who fail to understandthis point cannot understand why ordinary teacherswill never become good teachers. Most of theproblems and dysfunctions of vocational and technicaleducation result from not creating this non-materialenvironment. Case studies point to the attempt madein school enterprises to create an ethos of cleanlinessand perfection which is proper to the particular tradeand technical skill. School enterprises have theimportant goal to teach students the value of socialgoals in addition to imparting production skills.

On the whole, evidence shows that school enterprisesconstitute a meaningful setting for the development ofbasic skills and knowledge, particularly with regard tothe planning and executing of small economic activi-ties and the understanding of technologies and pro-duction processes. Such outcomes have been possiblein institutions with good leadership.

In recent years, much international attention has beengiven to the contribution of ‘key qualifications’ orgeneralised capabilities in vocational preparation. Ithas been argued that in a rapidly changing environ-ment, schools should promote the development ofgeneralised capabilities that are in built into vocationalskills. It is not the development of technical skillsalone but the development of generalised capabilitiesthat are a basis for future productivity, adaptability andequity. It is here that the emphasis on quality and theattention to relevance can be merged as there is noinherent conflict between generalised capabilities andvocational skills.

The greater interest in promoting pupil creativity,problem identification, trying out different solutions,manipulative skills, familiarity with different materialsand technologies, insight into the practical applicationsof scientific concepts and principles have led to a 44 Hoppers, W. and Komba, D., 199645 Castro, C. de Moura, 1988

reduction in the distance between vocational andgeneral competencies.

3.5 Curricular processesAny discussion on job-related vocationalised compe-tencies and education linked to market and employ-ment will need to take account of questions relating tothe extent school enterprises are in a position to adopta market perspective without neglecting the peda-gogical aspects. This raises not just logisticalquestions about resource availability, but also morefundamental ones of the inclusion of productionprocesses in the curricula, the appropriateness of thecurriculum for learning the flow of production and theprocesses of production, the teachers’ familiarity withthe job-related curriculum, the adequacy of curriculummaterials as well as the assessment procedures.

Integrating productive activities intoschool curriculum

The first question school enterprises need to addressthemselves to is: how is the production process as itscentral element to be integrated into the school cur-riculum? In school enterprises, production (the tech-nical equipment and work organisation) operates underconditions very close to those prevailing in actualenterprises. Nearness to technical and organisationalreality and the applicability of skills is an importantprinciple of school enterprises. The work organisationcan take the form of a craftsman’s workshop, aconstruction site, a production assembly line, a bakeryor a farm. The technical and social organisation ofwork can be disclosed to the trainee via abstract theoryand reflection. In many schools, however, schoolenterprises overstress the technical aspects ofproduction. In doing so, they too frequently neglectthe work-organisation aspect. Such school enterprisesput a higher emphasis on the economic goals whileneglecting their educational goals.

Integrating the production process into the curriculumentails translating the complexity and variety ofindustrial reality such as operational functions, theinterrelationships, e.g., mechanical systems, workorganisation, jobs, etc., into a range of skills in orderto make the complex reality more comprehensible forthe learner. Learning is supported by introducingsystematic teaching aids (textbooks and tables,laboratory devices, and audio visual aids, etc.), theexpress purpose being that learning goals are achieved,learning time is utilised optimally and, in particular,trainees are made to understand technological,scientific and mathematical laws involved in the jobsthey perform. In this way, the whole productionprocess is made to meet the requirements of thestudent-training programme.


Training stages

Once the technical and work organisational aspects ofthe production process are translated into a range ofskills, it is possible to scale skills according to basic,intermediate and advanced skills. The first year oftraining may include courses in basic skills and, later,intermediate and advanced skills. Basic skills trainingoften includes basic training through the trainingcourse principle. But basic training may also includefabrication of simple parts for product components orelementary project work. Intermediate specialisationnormally includes machine familiarisation, trainingcourse sequences and production-oriented training.Advanced specialisation usually includes productiontraining.

The goal of training through school enterprises shouldbe the efficient manufacturing of good quality goods.This would bring down labour costs. Furthermore, thegoal should be to qualify workers for a variety of skillsthat can be employed at any time and place. Skilltraining should comprise of competencies needed in abroad range of occupational tasks. And, finally,training should train for social reliability, corporatestandards and social interests.

The structure and size of school enterprises determinesthe extent and depth of the skills imparted to thetrainees. In some schools, such as PIKA in Indonesiaand Don Bosco Technical Institute in India, there aremore options to structure the sequence of productionactivities and allow different approaches to comple-ment one another. As a result, it is possible to havedifferent stages of vocational education ranging fromthe basic vocational stage, the specialised vocationalstage and apprenticeship to full-time operators andentrepreneurs. This contrasts with the business centresin public technical institutes in Ghana and Kenya, aswell as the example of the Industrial Training Institutein Bangalore, where the delegation of responsibilityfor more explicit application of vocational speciali-sations to non-formal provisions and informal sectorapprenticeships makes more sense as governmentshave to choose between investing in vocational educa-tion for the few and an improved quality of vocationaleducation for the many.

Changes in curricular approaches andlearning outcomes

Several shifts occur overtime in curricular approaches.Programmes may start with very strong components ofvocational training. But their succession may alsoreflect the shifts that have occurred: from focus ontechnical skills towards more emphasis on specialisedtraining in real work processes, which can still make acontribution to pedagogical outcomes. Some ofvocational secondary schools in India that have estab-

lished school enterprises are thinking seriously on thelines of promoting general competencies, such as prin-ciples of work ethos, in addition to producing for themarket. There may also be shifts from production-cum-training towards a separation of these twofunctions.

Decentralisation and local choice

The process of curriculum development is an area ofsupport infrastructure and is of vital importance. Theprocess is fraught with difficulties as curriculumorganisations like to adhere to established proceduresfor the development of curriculum and learningmaterials. Where such procedures are very cen-tralised, conflicts easily arise between national pre-scriptions and the schools’ implementing capacity.There is the necessity to allow much scope for localvariations and ‘enrichment’. The challenge to cur-riculum organisations is to provide as much guidanceas possible to teachers through handbooks, pupil texts,guidelines, models of syllabi, while leaving muchscope for local choice and adjustment.

Decentralisation of the curriculum may however havethe unintended consequence of creating gender differ-ences. Curriculum decentralisation must therefore besupervised by curriculum organisations. In the case ofPapua New Guinea, curriculum decentralisation has infact caused gender-related differences. For example,there are significant differences in the skills thatwomen have access to. While both men and womenare trained in agriculture and livestock production,women are more likely to be involved in subsistenceproduction. Men tend to work in large scale non-sub-sistence agro-industry-oriented production lines. Menperform the machine-dependent operations, whereaswomen are confined to hand work. Women are morelikely to receive classroom teaching of business skills,rather than practical experience in business skills.

Existing pedagogical services may require the devel-opment of effective linkages with industrial organi-sations. The guidance and active contribution by thelatter organisations is of central importance to ensurethe relevance and effectiveness of technology educa-tion and productive projects.

In the case of the Don Bosco Technical Institutes, thefact that normally all graduates from the school enter-prise find employment is mainly due to the orientationof the training content to the competency requirementsof potential employers. The Salesian approach ofestablishing and maintaining an extensive as possiblenetwork of contacts to government and privateemployers is not only to ensure the right and up-to-date identification of the competency requirements for


skilled workers, but also to facilitate the job placementof graduates.

Course structure and duration

School enterprises offer vocational training in an arrayof courses. Courses are modified over the years andevolve in response to market demand. Some coursesneed to be retained because they provide good basictraining.

The optimal duration of the course is one within theperiod of which those competencies may be taught,which will enable the trainee to get employment and,at the same time, make his vacancy available to new-comers. In Brazil, it has been possible in some schoolenterprises to extend the duration of the coursesbecause the students are not forced to earn outside theschool enterprise.46 It has also been possible to discardthe rigid course structure and its mandatory sequencingof tasks, and give due consideration to the weakerstudents. The students can continue to work in theschool enterprise, work to earn an income even afteracquiring all the necessary competencies, till they havefound a suitable job. During this period, the studentspass on their skills and knowledge to the new students.

As regards the course materials, instead of a task-oriented systematisation of materials which start withsimple tasks and proceed on to more difficult tasks, itis desirable, especially from the point of view of lateremployment practice, to have a handbook in which theindividual tasks may be looked up as and when aproblem arises. It makes sense to develop a collectionof loose sheets dealing individually with the relevanttasks taught during the course. This could then bebound up as a manual to be used later. Training aidsmay be produced in the school enterprise itself.

Courses, such as weekend courses, must be adapted tothe work routine of the participants. The reduction inthe leisure time of such workers could be compensatedthrough work in small production groups with a goodambience. This is particularly important in the case ofwomen, though men are also seldom free of socialobligations and other demands to their time.

The courses should be clearly formulated, compact,and of not too long a duration. Courses should bedivided into basic, intermediate and advanced courses.Upon completion of the first module, the learnershould find it easier to follow the next module. Eachmodule should be self-sufficient and allow the studentto break his training only to return to join the nextlevel after acquiring some experience in his com-

46 Fachgruppe Technik/Handwerk des Deutschen Entwicklungs-

dienstes in Brasilien-Mitte (DED) 1987, pp. 343-356

munity or in local enterprises. The certificate shouldcontain a list of skills and knowledge which thestudent has acquired during the course.

The courses should be oriented towards the demandsof the immediate community for services and products,and also prepare students for employment in their owncommunities. This demand orientation should alsoinclude the possibility of developing new products andexpanding existing markets. With regard to thepromotion of self-employment, production coursesmust be oriented to economic activities in the informalsector.

Great value must be put on practice-oriented trans-mission of basic skills and knowledge in the context ofactivities (welding) within an occupational sector(metalworking).This general experience with basicskills is important as a foundation for later work as aspecialist as well as for self-employment. The broadexposure to basic skills is important for the students tochoose a trade suitable to their aptitude and talent aswell as for preventing frustration and frequent jobchanges.

The courses should be so designed as to promote asmuch co-operation as possible between the students.The aim of this co-operation should be the admini-stration of the courses by the students themselves, i.e.production planning, cash and sales control, calcu-lation, making payments, etc. The students should co-operate and feel a responsibility for all aspects of theirwork. This would mean a conscious distancing from acapitalistic and hierarchical learning organisation. Itwould be desirable, indeed, if the students could alsoextend their co-operative effort to the period after theirvocational training.

It is necessary to introduce problem-oriented coursematerials. Course units should be built around thefinding of a solution to a problem rather than onlydemonstration, observation and imitation. Thestudents should be taught to question why a particularsolution is the right one and another the wrong one.Over and beyond this problem-orientation, it isnecessary for the students to develop problem-solvingstrategies which would allow the students to later dealwith problems independently. This would placeemphasis on the creative potential/creative capacity ofyoungsters in solving problems that reside in their ownenvironments which permit and even encourage theexercise of that capacity.

Emphasis should be given to creativity, experimen-tation, and learning to work without errors. Anattitude of independent problem-solving can bepromoted through a broader general education as is


already existent among the students. They should bemotivated to attend non-formal educational courses toimprove their general education till at least the 8th

level. Theory should be introduced in the productioncourse only when the practice so demands.

Parents could be included in the planning of courses aswell as in the monthly evaluations and planning get-togethers.

Curriculum development

There is a great need for developing curricula with ahigh degree of flexibility and integration into existingwork situations. Curricula should avoid an over-burdening with instructional materials. It should bebased on the principle of using examples aroundgenuine and concrete tasks. Rather than introducinguniform, standardised and detailed materials which areto be passively used, the curriculum must ensure activeparticipation of all workers in genuine learning tasks.Curricula should be problem-oriented.

A curriculum need not always be in written form. Itcould be designed on the basis of products aroundwhich basic technical skills can be learned. Thismethod has the advantage of saving on programmecosts, as products can be sold or used for own con-sumption. Furthermore, products can be more easilyadapted to local market demand than written materials,and are less amenable to standardisation. Instead ofintroducing industry-oriented theoretical courses builtaround productions manufactured in the modernformal sector, it makes more sense designing coursesaround the repair of products. Again, repair ofproducts does not lend itself easily to a standardisedcurriculum.

A major problem is the production of identicalproducts within a restricted geographical space of alocal settlement. Training contents should, therefore,not be the same for all, but should reflect opportunitiesfor diversifying into new lines of production andproducts. This may help the graduates from schoolenterprises to overcome the extreme competition whilesetting up their own enterprises.

The restricted financial situation of youngsters meansthat they may, later on, have to creatively adapt toavailable technology. A real challenge of curriculumdevelopment is, therefore, the development of coursesbuilt around improvised techniques. This could bedone on the a basis of an examination of the scope forthe development of appropriate technology withinschool enterprises. Courses need to be developedaround competencies and technologies that are per-ceived locally as important and accepted ways of sur-vival and development, rather than by adopting a top-

down approach of diffusing modern technology andqualification requirements from formal private sectorinstitutions into school enterprises.

Curricula development should consider the trainees’general maturity, their degree of exposure to the worldof work, and to situations of sheer social and/or eco-nomic survival. What should be the relation betweencompetencies and attitudes to be promoted by educa-tion and those actually developed in the homeenvironment? How old should youngsters be beforethey are exposed to hand tools or electrical machines?At what age are young people ready to think aboutvocational choices? How does this vary acrossdifferent socio-economic or cultural environments?Schools should be able to complement what is learnedin the home. On the other hand, schools also have thetask of widening horizons opening up new avenues andperspectives that reach beyond the home environment.Thus schools may deliberately wish to counterbalancethe production orientation trainees are exposed to athome by means of embedding their work orientation incurricular designs.

Curriculum development requires much professionalinput from outside the organisations. There are severaldifficulties in organising the curriculum on the basis ofproduction. In most of the experiments, the curriculumis not worked out entirely on the basis of production.Selection of vocational learning contents entails appli-cability, completeness, controllability. It requires acarefully planned and systematic approach to learning.It requires regularity and constant supervision byselected experienced instructors. The approach isexpensive, and it calls for considerable investment instaff, space, technical infrastructure and a separatelocation.

Principles underlying curriculum integration

Educational programmes are designed according tocurricular principles established in the field of humanpsychology. Among them are the defining andsequencing of skills and principles, the interactionbetween theoretical practice and practice throughmanual or observational means, and the targeting ofeducational experience differently in different age,ability and interest groups. Vocational education isboth practical and academic rather than binary oppo-sites as many tend to cast it.

In school enterprises, one is dealing with verticalinvestments in specific curricula and specific abilities.In terms of specific curricula, plumbing is not the sameas carpentry, and poultry differs from agriculture.Investments in curricula are made differently. Forthose faced with making investment and managerialdecisions, it is necessary for them to match labour


market demand (demand by horticulture, etc.) with thequestions of the learner’s ability, the learner’s interestand institutional and management environment(co-operative work environment).

Once vertical investment in specific curricula andspecific abilities are made then the question arisesregarding its horizontal integration: how to link thepractical work in plumbing in a training workshop withthe theory in science through the course method?Projects offer a potential for horizontal integration oflearning and production. An effective linkage betweenlearning and production is only possible if either thesame teacher or a team make a direct and explicit con-nection between different dimensions of the sametrade (for example, plumbing) whereby the scientific,social and technical dimensions can be jointly ex-plored. This kind of integration has a great fascinationfor planners. In OECD countries, there are attempts torelate science to technology and to emphasise thedesign side of craft and technology and, elsewhere,interest in bringing science into agriculture and crafts.Although this approach does not remove the problemof curriculum fragmentation, it could bring theory andpractice much closer together and thereby increase thequality of learning in key areas of basic knowledge andskills in school enterprises.47

A related issue concerns the method of learning: towhat extent will learning be more experiential andbased on actual productive activities? Production forthe market should involve a direct and conscious con-frontation with forms of work and production in one’sown environment. As already indicated, the notion ofcombining education and production through schoolenterprises basically involves pupils in an actualexperience of production. School enterprises have abroader aim than the limited work-orientation projects.They are more vocationally specialised imparting job-specific skills, and more extensive than the work-orientation programmes, and emphasise learningoutcomes as well as economic output.

Balancing learning and production for the market

Important for reaching a balance between market andlearning experience is adjusting training structures tomarket orders, i.e., arriving at an optimal synchroni-sation of different forms of training in view of thevariable market situation. This is probably one of themost difficult problems of school enterprises.Regarding synchronising economic activities andtraining programmes, some school enterprises acceptorders according to purely commercial criteria.Experienced instructors and technicians then sort theincoming orders according to their respective degrees

47 King, K., 1985

of ‘training suitability’. Any order that does not fitinto the training programme, perhaps because of shortdeadlines, technical problems or excessive volume, arepassed on to the school enterprises’ normal productionstaff and senior trainees. Conversely, detailed produc-tion quotas are often compiled to satisfy the trainingplans, and then presented to the regional enterpriseswith a cost estimate as a special offer.

In schools with a relatively fixed array of products,instructors and technicians schedule work tasks to co-ordinate training and market production. Division co-ordinators and instructors translate the detailed pro-duction plans into training content.

3.6 Teaching staffTeaching staff in school enterprises include a widevariety of personnel. Master craftsmen are normallyresponsible for production as well as training and eco-nomic activities such as acquiring orders, keeping theproduction process going, and supervising the produc-tion trainees. Instructors are responsible for training.They supervise and help trainees acquire certain skills,knowledge and attitudes. Theory instructors holdtheory classes. Experts from industry, such as quali-fied engineers, are expected to offer expert advice ondemand.

In the context of school enterprises, teaching staff areexpected to participate in more than one function.They are responsible not only for the productionprocess but also for market production, and they are, atthe same time, responsible for making possible ameaningful vocational education in theory andpractice. In view of these multiple roles, effectivefunctioning of school enterprises necessitates adivision of labour of teaching staff with different skillsand different backgrounds. Teachers must be recruitedin terms of their technical, economic and didacticbackgrounds, as well as in regard to their level andduration of practical experience. Special attentionmust be given to the recruitment of staff for theacquisition of orders and marketing. The monitoringof production may be carried out by experienced pro-duction workers or master craftsmen who should haveexperience in scheduling work and specifyingpractices through work manuals and so-called ‘projecthandbooks’. Didactic planning, instruction, and thecontrol of learning progress in school enterprisesshould be the responsibility of full-time instructorswho have been specifically prepared for this task. Thisdivision of labour is necessary in order to avoid a con-flicting situation where teachers are caught betweenthe learning requirement made by the school and theenterprise’s technical and economic interests.


But there are several problems faced by teachers inschool enterprises. On the one hand, teaching staffmay find that their productivity is low because of theirout-of-date knowledge and experience. They may notbe able to perform at a high enough standard. Thetraining of technical and vocational teachers may nothave included a true exposure to the world of job-related competencies. It may have been too academic,or too theoretical, to allow them to function effectivelyin production activities. On the other hand, the pro-duction activities may be inadequate for providing asufficiently comprehensive and up-to-date experiencefor teachers.

There may be a low motivation to work in schoolenterprises on account of the lack of career mobilityresulting from lack of industrial experience. Non-availability of appropriate incentives for staff andstudents involved in the process may result in dis-interest and negative attitudes amongst them. Theresistance to women and minority groups may deterschool enterprises to employ such people as teachers.

Sometimes the conditions or work in productionactivities are more demanding than in purely trainingactivities. Thus, the technical and vocational teachersmay be reluctant to take on additional responsibilitiesof working in production activities. Therefore back upsupport to staff from the management of the schoolshould be given special attention.

The trainers may be engaged in school enterprises inaddition to their full-time duties in technical traininginstitutes. This leaves them very little time to devoteto the preparation of course material. They haveusually had their training a long time ago and usuallyhave no pedagogical experiences apart from demon-stration and imitation.

Recruitment of teachers

The form and qualifications of the teachers in schoolenterprises is quite varied. Teachers have either hadtheir training in state vocational teacher training insti-tutes or through non-formal provisions provided by thestate or non-governmental organisations. In a fewcases, trainers and instructors are deliberately recruitedfrom industry or from among experienced producers.They are given salaries that are similar to levelsprevalent in industry. This prevents mobility intoindustry. However, not all school enterprises are ableto afford high salaries for the teaching staff.

Although most school enterprises lay value on thepossibility of recruiting the requisite training stafffrom among their own graduates, there is a high turn-over among teaching staff, especially when teachersset up their own enterprises.

On the whole, licensed teachers with an officialmentality may be inherently less suitable as instructorsthan are master craftsmen, technicians and engineers.The latter instructors can play an important role inimparting existing skills needed by local enterprises aswell as in transmitting new emerging skills and, there-fore, creating new markets.

Responsibilities of teaching staff and school heads

At the institutional level, a major consideration in thesuccessful running of school enterprises, combiningeducation with production for the market, is the roleand responsibilities of the head teachers and the staff.

Those who get involved in school enterprise pro-grammes find themselves turning into part-timefarmers, wood or metalworkers, builders, supervisorsof working parties, office managers, procurementofficers, and financial administrators. Very often, noprior training for these roles has been received or theoriginal training proves to be insufficient. Schoolenterprises may also involve extra duties during out-of-school hours with regard to preparation, repair ormaintenance, extra-curricular activities, industrialvisits or community service. This is not counting thelarge amounts of time and energy being spent on pro-fessional development activities away from school.

The options for organising staff vary greatly. Thestart-up and experimenting with new learning activitiesis heavily dependent on the special commitment ofteachers who choose to work with the initiatingagencies. Where teachers are given special responsi-bilities, these should be officially acknowledged, sup-ported with training, and rewarded with incentives.

The division of responsibilities in the context of schoolenterprises applies to the vertical division of tasksbetween ministries, national organisations and lowerlevels of authority, and school enterprises. It alsoapplies to the division between school heads, staff andtrainees, and between schools, communities (parentsand workers) and industrial organisations (managers,employers, employees). Generally, it seems that moredecentralised and participatory decision making andmore sharing of tasks between the parties concernedpromotes greater interest, motivation and commitment.

An essential condition for the above to take place is animproved information system as a basis for moreeffective planning. More options for school activitiesand a greater diversity of requirements in terms ofstaffing, materials, tools, etc. make greater demands onefficient administrative interaction within the edu-cation system and with the external environment.


Matching teachers with special facilities and materialsand with local needs is a complex exercise. Infor-mation flow in a decentralised context may help inadapting the changing scope and complexity of schoolenterprises with competency development and withavailability of local and national resources.

Managerial continuity through long-term commitmentof individuals may be important for the success ofschool enterprises.

Basic services and associations

Although instructors may be qualified to teach, comefrom social backgrounds similar to the students, have agood relationship with the students, and transmit thecompetencies efficiently, many of them neverthelesslack a pedagogical background. Further education topromote the didactic competencies of instructorsshould include the following elements: before thebeginning of the course, teachers/instructors/trainersshould be engaged in course planning, setting up aworkshop, selection of adequate course materials,working out didactic materials, and selection ofadequate training methods. During the course, theyshould be taught how to prepare a lesson plan and howto evaluate student performance. After the course,teachers/trainers/instructors should be able to evaluatethe learning output (competencies acquired), evaluatethe course, evaluate the course success (employmentplacement, prevention of migration into cities, morerelevant, more cost-effective, etc.).

An essential element of teacher upgrading can be theenhancement of networking among instructors, mastercraftsmen, experts from industry, managers and edu-cationalists involved in school enterprises by arrangingfor regular professional interaction and co-operationbetween teaching staff and administrators at schoollevel, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, indu-strial experts, supervisors, inspectors, educationaladvisors and teacher educators at regional and districtlevels. This interaction can provide minimal guidanceand moral encouragement to teacher staff, and lead tojoint activities in areas like curricular adaptation,organisational improvement of activities, and design-ing supplementary learning materials.

The MES and similar modular vocational training con-cepts are most suited in the advanced training ofinstructors who need to acquire additional partialqualifications to improve their technical know-how.In conjunction with some pedagogical training, theMES could be used to qualify technical trainers andadvisers in small and micro-enterprises (especially inrural areas) with a trade specific and also self-employment focus. Such training of trainers could beheld in existing school enterprises.

Continuous upgrading of the teaching staff viarefresher courses is necessary to ensure that the schoolenterprise keeps abreast of technical progress.

Teachers can play an important role in curriculumdevelopment in the quality of in-service and pre-service training of instructors. There should be anadequate curriculum for instructor training. Facilitiesfor how a school enterprise should be equipped oroperated should be made available. Didactics shouldbe taught. Instruction in teaching methods should beconducted by staff who have experience in teachingadolescents in workshops. Training should includehow to conduct a survey of existing skill requirementsin the local area. Managers of the training of instruc-tors should themselves have adequate exposure to in-service training.

The implementation of school enterprises demandsinteraction between professional agencies and theschools. Curriculum centres and the inspectorate needto work directly with the teachers. Where teachers’centres or resource centres exist, they must be ade-quately equipped. A lot depends on the voluntarycommitment of already overburdened teachers.Relations with other government departments, or withindustrial establishments, must be strengthened.

There is also a need for a reorientation of professionalstyle: moving away from a top-down, prescriptiveapproach to a more collaborative and supportive one.The instructor should be treated as more than anadvisor who should be there to reply to questions putby the students. This independent problem-solvingattitude and further education can be promoted throughthe facilities of a library, in-service training, distanceprogrammes and self-contained manuals.

3.7 Regulatory framework ofschool enterprises

School enterprises must have a certain freedom tomove on the market. This autonomy should alsoextend to the training concept, the selection ofstudents, the use of earnings, the remuneration andupgrading of training personnel and productionworkers, choice of financing methods, the examinationand certification procedures, and various other regu-lation and incentive structures.

Public educational institutions may lack an effectiverelationship between the school and the market. Thismay hamper the effective functioning of schoolenterprises. By contrast, integration with the marketmay be easier and more real in the case of programmesconducted by non-state organisations and localcommunity bodies.


Assessment

There is the problem of how productive work shouldbe assessed, particularly how to capture the morecomplex learning outcomes such as the cognitiveskills, problem-solving skills and the practical compe-tencies. There is also the problem of the extent towhich programmes such as project work, productivework, or prevocational studies should be nationallyexamined and play a role in selection to a higher level.

The inclusion of market production in the nationalexaminations may be an effective way to make pupilsand parents take productive tasks seriously and toincrease their status as acceptable areas of learning.There is a glaring difference between school enter-prises where, even when productive work is examinedand assessed, they rarely feature in the entry require-ments for higher-level education or training. This evenoccurs where the selection is for technical trainingcolleges. These tend to be more interested in the per-formance in academic subjects than in the previousproductive experience. In the context of school enter-prises’ new criteria for assessment, such as projectwork, team work and creativity need to given moreemphasis. Many questions remain however. Whoshould grade the examinations and provide school-level observations? The answer could include teacherassociations, parent committees, and representatives ofthe ministry and the academic community.

Selection of students

Several background factors, such as age, work-experi-ence, business exposure, social background, wish andpotential of candidates, men/women and rural/urbanratios play a role in the selection of trainees in schoolenterprises. Rigorous selection or enrolment policies,where achievement and economic potential aspects ofthe candidate play an important role, need to beweighed against social background of trainees andequity aspects.

Selection criteria need, however, to be consistent withthe development objectives of the vocational insti-tute.48 If self-employment is the focus of school enter-prises, then trainees should be selected who have anaptitude for self-employment. This has been demon-strated in the case of the Don Bosco Self-EmploymentResearch Institute, Calcutta, which selects students onthe basis of their social and economic disadvantage aswell as their entrepreneurial skills. Instructors andtrainers carry out the important task of identifying andselecting those trainees for training in self-employmentwho show entrepreneurial abilities. Equity considera-tions are applied right from the stage of enrolment oftrainees to the institute, because an important objective

48 See Grierson, J. P. and McKenzie, I. (eds.), 1996

of this institute is to promote self-employment amongthe socially and economically disadvantaged youth.This combination of self-employment potential andsocial disadvantage as a selection criteria is especiallyimportant in the state of West Bengal, which is knownto lack an ‘enterprise culture’: a culture which moti-vates students to take risks or enrol for technicalsubjects.

Equity considerations play an especially important roleamong the school enterprises which are run by churchorganisations, rather than private industry. The goodchances for graduates of the Don Bosco TechnicalInstitutes to find jobs in the modern sector inducesmiddle-class families to obtain a training place fortheir children, even in schools set up for poor children.Nevertheless, many of the Don Bosco Institutes recruitchildren exclusively from very poor families.

Most school enterprises in the survey place emphasison basic general education competencies in theselection of trainees who mostly have at least eightyears of education. Where this level of generaleducation is lacking, trainees are required to undergoan extra year of training in the school enterprises.However, the fact that the majority of young peoplenowadays have a secondary education should not beoverestimated as, very often, they are unable to solveeven basic problems, such as unit conversion or theinterpretation of simple technical drawings, because ofthe lack of basic knowledge in mathematics or physics.

Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation at the institutional levelshould have a pedagogical benefit, i.e. it should be anaid to the learning system. The appraisal of productionshould be taken up by the students by first theoreti-cally planning the production norms, materials, costand quality, marketing and innovations suggested. Interms of quality enhancement, improvements should bemade in production technology, as well as reduction inprocess time, by both trainees and trainers.

Effective monitoring requires a careful identificationof relevant information categories, of indicators forchange, of suitable methods for efficient data col-lection, of formats of change, of analysis and presen-tation which enable results to be used by differentaudiences be they be planners, researchers or the widerpublic. A variety of school activities may have to besystematically recorded. The roles of more partiesneed to be tracked. Wider diversity of skills, andcognitive and affective outcomes, need to be assessedthan is the case in more conventional curriculum areas.Tracer information needs to be collected on how theoutput of the school system fits into the world of work(earnings of graduates by educational level, incidence


of unemployment, time for recent graduates to land ajob). The availability of learning materials needs to bedocumented. And finally, the cost per student by leveland curriculum type also needs to be evaluated andmonitored.

Inspection should be professional. Inspectors shouldhave an objective criteria against which they evaluateschool enterprises and training. They should possess alist of activities against which they can assess themastery of skills. Likewise, the local relevance of thesyllabus should be considered a part of their repertoireof inspection. Government officers should receivetraining in monitoring and evaluating school enter-prises where such programmes form part of the officialvocational training programmes. Resources should beused in such a way that local needs are given highpriority.

3.8 External relationsWith regard to the external environment, issuesmeriting attention are the sharing of responsibility forproduction among schools, communities, non-govern-mental organisations and industry.

The economic side of production

Combining learning and production alone is notenough. Selected production tasks need to be designedfor the production of products which may be latermarketed. School enterprises must function in themarket place and be quick to adapt to the demands ofnew technologies and processes; they must also bequick to translate these new technologies andprocesses into the training content.

Co-operation with neighbouring enterprises of theformal and informal sector is necessary, with particularregard to acquiring orders, procurement of materials,the modernisation of technical equipment, the recruit-ment of teaching staff as well as finding jobs for theirgraduates and follow-up support for trainees who laterset up their own enterprises.

It is necessary to make products which have a demandin the market. For this, it is very important for schoolenterprises to choose the right product. The marketorientation of school enterprises depends on whethertheir function is that of concentrating on products thatare in demand on the regional market, or concentrateon the kind of products that the local enterprises alsomake, but which the school enterprises themselvescould turn out in better quality via more sophisticatedtechnological processes and more modern methods. Inthe latter case, school enterprises have the importantfunction of creating new markets although this usuallyinvolves relatively high financial risks for the schools.Whereas some schools specialise in one particular

production field, others comprise of a wide variety ofproduction fields.

School enterprises offer not only products but alsoservices such as information services, advice, furthertraining courses for regional industry and the informalsector, technology transfer, and enterprise develop-ment through institutional and enterprise networking.School enterprises are suitable places for providingopportunities for continuing technical and vocationaleducation. In this connection, the school enterpriseprovides assistance to adults in the world of work.The modern equipment of the school, the level oftraining of its teaching staff, the technical and infor-mation resources (technical library, collection ofstandards, learning media) allow the school to providecompetent counselling to enterprises in terms ofmanagement (establishment of new enterprises,accounting, bookkeeping, etc.) and in technical terms(introduction to new technologies).

Establishing relations with existing industrial organi-sations has other important reasons. What studentscan possibly gain in school enterprises is usuallylimited in variety and scope. In the present age ofrapidly developing technology and swiftly changingsociety, one cannot imagine it would be enough just toteach students certain skills for only one particularemployment position. One has to take into con-sideration the need for the development of youngpeople to face the challenge of the future. In this con-nection, it would be necessary to establish relationswith existing industrial organisations.

While school enterprises provide skills for traditionaland new jobs, there needs to be close co-operationwith enterprises to enhance the quality and efficiencyof product development, production and maintenance.Large enterprises can provide technology and expertiseto trainees in school enterprises in both traditional andnewly emerging skills. Even the small enterprises inrural and urban informal sectors can provide experts toprovide the training needed for existing jobs andproduction practices.

Given the importance of sustained technical andprofessional support, and of local co-operation for thesuccessful implementation of school enterprises, therelations with existing industrial organisations andsmall enterprises need to be given more than marginalattention.

An indispensable prerequisite for enterprises to play amajor role in vocational education is the attitude on thepart of entrepreneurs and trade unions in supportingschool enterprises (for example, in Germany).


Integration of school enterprises into the economyof the community

In most case studies, the enterprises generally reflectthe local economies of light manufacturing, rural agri-cultural enterprises or heavy industries. Serviceindustries such as tourism and hotels are less repre-sented. To optimise production and learning, schoolenterprises should be optimally integrated intoindustrialisation strategies and enterprise developmentprogrammes devoted to the furtherance of small andmedium-sized independent businesses.

Identification and prioritisation of the community aresignificant elements of the school enterprises. Whilesome needs may be obvious, others are to be deter-mined with a view to diversifying the economy of thecommunity. In this context, the important contextualreferences would be the investment policies, govern-ment programmes, particularly poverty alleviation,integrated rural development programmes, the maxi-mising the use of local resources, and increase in theapplication of new emerging technologies, bothinnovative and ‘appropriate’, in homes and workplaces. The modality of school enterprises should aimto satisfy the needs of the community, particularlythose situated in the area of the school enterprise.

Case studies from China show that farms run by tech-nical and vocational schools are especially useful inmeeting the needs of peasants. Such farms are notonly for students to gain practice, but also for peasantsto learn. Usually, during the period of studying at theschool and practising on the farm, the students mayalso manage their own small farms at home. Thebeneficial result brought about by the advancedfarming techniques spreading from such schools areimmeasurable and far exceed the value of the actualgoods produced by the school-run farm. This is aneffective way to help peasants master practicaltechniques so as to improve production. Thisapproach of combining education with productionthrough the notion of school enterprises contrasts withearlier productive work programmes in primaryschools, introduced as a part of the drive at theruralisation of curriculum, in which the conception of‘limited productive work’ had been integrated in thecurriculum as part of the practical subjects or as extra-curricular activities. The school enterprise notionoffers not only practical skills or work orientation, butalso vocational qualifications, technological andmanagement services, product development, tech-nology transfer, and support to marginal groups. Thus,school enterprises do not only concentrate onproduction and manpower training, but promotevariegated relations to the outside world.

School enterprises function best in regions with adeveloping industry which offer them the best chancesof survival owing to a diversity of production orders(adequate demand) and sufficient employment oppor-tunities for the graduates of their practice-orientedtraining. School enterprises however may also have tobe established as a response to crisis or unrest in thelocal or regional industry, thus helping in rejuvenatingthe industry or promoting forms of self-employment tomake up for the loss of jobs in the formal sector, or inpromoting various forms of life and work in the sub-sistence sector. The creation of self-employmentopportunities as a response to a situation of industrialcrisis has been important for retaining the credibilityof the principle of combining learning with production.However, apart from the limitations set on the devel-opment of small enterprises and self-employment bythe prevailing general economic frame conditions anddevelopment potential, self-employment and businesscreation are – for financial, personality related and/orsocial reasons – not necessarily an alternative optionfor all those unable to find wage-employment.Nevertheless, the importance and the chances of pro-moting self-employment and stabilising various formsof life and work in the subsistence sector should berecognised in the field of technical and vocationaltraining as the subsistence economy is the backbone ofsurvival for the majority of people in the urban andrural informal sector.

An important function of school enterprises has beenpromoting vocational training for existing micro-enterprises in the informal sector. These take intoaccount the principle of satisfying basic needs throughthe development of appropriate technology, regionaland community development, self-help, self-employ-ment and self-management. The interlinking of educa-tion and production is flexible and variable accordingto the basic needs approach (for example, the Voca-tional Training Centres, Papua New Guinea and thePublic Workshops of the INA, Costa Rica). Supportusually includes retraining, marketing advice, inter-vention with suppliers and officials, fact-finding, andliaison with the local market.

The design and management of programmes ofcombining education with production needs to takeinto account the various interest groups: parents,instructors and students. As a result of the increasingcrisis in the modern economy, parents have begun toacknowledge the additional value of earning whileworking and of job-specific vocational competencies.They are now often regarded by parents as a usefulsupplement providing capital in the labour market orpreparing the way for viable self-employment. Thereis a perceived advantage in the labour market. Peopleare motivated only when future benefits are visible to


them. This is crucial for self-confidence and socialskills. Students and educators express positive viewsregarding developments in the area of school enter-prise. They are generally supportive, and even praisethe role of school enterprises. Educators recognisethese developments as positive, especially because ofthe many financial rewards that would not otherwisebe available to the schools and to teachers. This is animportant development if practical or vocationalspecialisation is not to remain of marginal importance,and if its social image and economic attraction is toimprove.

In vocational education, any approach to commercialproduction needs to be based on a direct and organisedinteraction with the local community. This is impera-tive for logistical reasons as the planning and imple-mentation usually requires the community’s contri-bution in terms of human resources, funding, infor-mation and, often, management of resources. Thereare also pedagogical considerations as both the rele-vance and effectiveness of production for the marketare strongly linked to the community’s interests,attitudes and follow-up actions.

3.9 Impact of school enterprisesWith regard to the external impact of school enter-prises the relevant questions are:• does the incorporation of market production in

schools make a difference to employment, self-employment, economic development, the socio-economic survival of young people, the life chancesof girls?

• with regard to the internal impact, does it developrelevant skills? Does it improve learning achieve-ment and work performance?

School enterprises can – as regards both the objectivesof intended measures and the interests of the recip-ients/beneficiaries – provide competencies to improveincome-earning and self/wage employment opportuni-ties in the labour market of the modern and/or informalsector. They also provide competencies for homeproduction to compensate the lack of cash income,reduce the burden of subsistence work, and improveliving and working conditions.

As regards the external impact, school enterprises areall the more effective, the more varied the relationsthey have with the external world in terms of productdevelopment, production, maintenance, and marketing.School enterprises are able to achieve a higher stage ofdevelopment when they offer a broader range ofproducts and services to both formal and informalsectors of the economy. A concentration on pro-duction and manpower training characterises a rela-tively low-stage development.

Participation in community affairs and local economicdevelopment are also important indicators of externalimpact. School enterprises are effective in developingentrepreneurial skills for determining the requirementsof the neighbourhood and in developing for it suitableservices and goods. School enterprises provide educa-tional experience relevant to business and industry inthe area. School enterprises forge community linksthrough need-based courses and services in water,health and housing, and inculcate the spirit of socialaccountability in technical and vocational institutions.

The other relevant question relates to the internalimpact of school enterprises. Internal impact has to dowith the efficient organisation of learning experience.This means that the education and training provided isof quality, that the skills provided can be used imme-diately for enhancing production and productivity withthe optimisation of existing resources. Do fundsdevoted to education have an economic payoff in termsof productivity? School enterprises have been able togenerate resources for their institutes, so that moreupgraded education and training is made available and,at the same time, dependence upon external funding isminimised.

Of course, productivity does not refer only to monetaryrewards: it also means innovative performance, excel-lence/quality in economic life. It could also mean‘home production’ or school production in the form ofa more educated trainee contributing to better infra-structure in the school and better housing conditions intheir own homes. Thus even though the economiccontribution of school enterprises may remain modest,especially in the initial stages of their introduction, yet,at the level of subsistence, sustained involvement ofpupils in commercial production for a long time can becrucial to the improvement of their working and livingconditions. This involvement helps to prepare studentsfor a cost-saving, less hard and more effective subsis-tence work for improving their home and workingconditions through their own efforts.

With respect to individual working careers, personaldevelopment, and development of middle-levelspecialists, school enterprises give good basic trainingor full qualifications. School enterprises develop thenecessary competencies, i.e. skills, values, knowledgeand attitudes amongst students for meeting thechallenges of the world of work and, especially,enhance self-support capabilities (self-employment,self-management).

For school enterprises to be effective, there should beclarity with regard to what role market production inthe educational context should play within vocational


and technical institutions, and what they are supposedto achieve. Are they supposed to achieve self-employ-ment and enterprise development, or industrial em-ployment? Brigades in Botswana originally focusedon self-employment generation vis-à-vis employmentin the formal sector, rural development vis-à-visindustrialisation, and training in rural areas versustraining in urban areas. Originally, it was thought thatgraduates would remain in the community as self-employed artisans; the reality is that most migrate tolarger population centres and work for someone else.The curriculum should provide trainees with the abilityto see other options. Not every trainee will be anentrepreneur, and most are too young or inexperienced.There is a proposal to entice graduates back into thesystem after a few year of gaining on-the-jobexperience by sponsoring programmes to assist themin working through the problems of starting andmanaging their own businesses. If the ultimate goal isindustrial employment, then training in school enter-prises should prepare workers in the core area ofindustrialisation: manufacturing, maintenance andrepair.

Other related dominating motives for adopting theconcept of school enterprises is relieving schools ofthe high training costs, income for students andtrainees, the wish to make training more practice-oriented or practical. Vocational Training Centres inPapua-New Guinea have introduced market productionso that youngsters are in a position to earn a livingupon returning to their villages.

The broad impact of school enterprises has to do withthe fact that their intended objectives go beyond theconventional orientation of classical vocationaltraining. The objectives are more comprehensive, i.e.,school enterprises offer training not only in the classi-cal trades, but also in activities which satisfy the basicneeds to secure the survival of people. They extendbeyond training and production to the marketing ofconsultancy services, product development, technologytransfer, and information services.

3.10 Financial options forschool enterprises

The question of who should bear the cost of schoolenterprises as a basic mode within vocational trainingand education is becoming of increasing relevancebecause of the pressures of scarce resources. Closelyrelated to this question, and of equal importance, is themode of financing school enterprises as school enter-prises are not merely commercial institutions orientedto the goals of market production, but primarilyoriented to the goals of training and education as wellas to social goals. Theoretically, there can be severalchoices in financing school enterprises.

1. One option for school enterprises is to diversify themechanisms of providing technical and vocationaleducation by combining public and private sourcesas well as profit-making and non-profit-makingmeans. This could mean a combination of• direct financing from Government budgets,• the partial self-financing of school enterprises

with assistance from donor agencies, and• complementing training in school enterprises

with apprenticeship training in the modern sectoras well as in the informal sector, carried outmainly by private enterprises at their ownexpense in accordance with their labourdemands.

2. The second option for school enterprises to respondto pressures of scarce resources is through the cost-recovery methods, such as fees for laboratories,marketing of enterprise copyrighted inventions,contracts, consultancies, and sales of products andservices. Another form of cost recovery is chargingfees to the enterprises benefiting from the supply ofskilled labour, and partial cost recovery through feecharged to the trainees.

3. The third option for school enterprises to respondto pressures of scarce resources is by increasinginstitutional efficiency. This includes the economicefficiency in the use of available educationalresources so that the institution is able to be in aposition to finance its operation at costs from itsincome. This includes close attention to student/teacher ratios, less expensive contractual arrange-ments, and divergence in salaries to reflect marketdemand for students. This option will be gone intoin detail as school enterprises may be said to beoriented inter alia towards internal efficiencybecause they pursue both educational and economicgoals.

Issues in economic efficiency of school enterprises

A major raison d’être for establishing school enter-prises is the belief in internal economic efficiency inthe use of educational resources, particularly in field ofpublic sector education where the gap is wideningbetween the increasing demand for education andtraining on the one hand, and the limited amount ofresources to meet such demand on the other. Theargument is that institutions of technical andvocational education should use available financialresources more efficiently. Further it postulates abetter cost-effectiveness in comparison to resourceinputs; i.e., the internal management of the schoolshould consider their investment decisions withoutoverlooking the economic constraint. In other words,total revenue must exceed total expenditure and alsoallow an adequate return on capital employed. Thismay be said to be the internal commercial goal ofschool enterprises.


Most methods for measuring educational efficiency49

attempt to measure the performance of training andcompare it with the necessary inputs in order to obtaininformation on the optimal utilisation of financialinputs by decision makers. According to thesemethods it becomes necessary not only to quantify thecost of training50, but also to attach a monetary valueto the learning outputs. The range of learning outputssubject to evaluation is enormous. Nevertheless, themain learning outputs of school enterprises may becharacterised as follows:1. the learning outcome, i.e., the trainees’ competen-

cies and qualification as skilled workers;2. the trainees’ productive achievements, e.g., an

apprentice’s competency utilisation in the produc-tion process, with a valuation according to theequivalent skilled-worker wage;

3. earnings51 from the sale of goods and servicesemerging from the training process as well as otherproceeds: e.g., rent, tuition, income from the cafe-teria.

The learning input (academic achievement) comprisesof two broad categories: those over which educationalauthorities have no control (previous educational andjob experience levels of students and socio-economicbackground, gender, ethnicity, home environment,learning ability and trainees’ interest) and those overwhich educational authorities have considerablecontrol. Within the latter group, further differentiationcan be made between financial inputs within the scopeof school enterprise (teachers, buildings, teaching and

49 Educational efficiency is assessed in several different ways:

cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis and input-output analysis.

50 The most common way of calculating the economic efficiencyof school enterprises is through the cost control method, takinginto account productive achievements, trainees’ qualifications,and sales from goods and services. It is advisable to differen-tiate between gross costs, net costs, and earnings. Gross costsare understood as the total cost of training; earnings are theresult of the school selling its goods and services plus miscel-laneous revenues. The difference between the gross costs andthe earnings yields the net cost of training, or the amount thatmust be financed by the training establishment or other organi-sations, since it exceeds the school’s own goods and servicesoutput. Training costs comprise both a quantitative component,i.e., the amount of goods and services required to complete aschool’s training programme, and a value component, i.e., thequantification of prices of goods and services. The calculatedcost is the result of multiplying the quantity of inputs by theprices of inputs.

51 The training of skilled workers in a school enterprise can yielddirect and indirect forms of income. The proceeds resultingfrom the provision of goods and services from the customers orfor internal needs are regarded as the school’s direct income,while its indirect income includes earnings from the trainees’productive activities, e.g., in connection with practical trainingin a real enterprise. Mostly, the cost calculation of schoolenterprises takes into account direct income.

learning aids) and elements involving no directfinancial expenditures or costs (value-added concept oflearning, incremental learning and instructors’ class-room behaviour).

For any analysis of cost of training, very often the onlysuitable input elements are those that can be influ-enced by the school’s decision-makers and which incurcosts within the school enterprises. These may betermed the school-based production factors. Four costgroups are usually distinguished: personnel, operatingcosts, administrative expenses, and fixed-asset costs.Personnel costs are gross amounts including trainee,staff and supporting staff remuneration. Operatingcosts of schools are the costs of the educationalprocess, and depend on the number of trainees andteaching materials. These consist of energy, consum-ables, learning-teaching aids, transportation, workingclothes, and rent. Administrative expenses are in-curred for managing and administrating school enter-prises: insurance, taxes, fiscal charges, etc., consum-ables, communication and entertainment. Fixed-assetcost may be broken down into immovable and movableassets. Immovable assets are comprised of real estate;movable assets are comprised of tools, machines, andshop, laboratory, office and classroom equipment.

In the following, the economic efficiency aspect oftechnical and vocational training will be examinedmore closely across the various case studies. It is alsonecessary to address the question regarding theutilisation of income: is it used for covering operatingcosts, including the teacher salaries, or does it serve topay students from low income families?

In some enterprises, educational goals take precedenceover economic goals. These schools are very oftencharacterised by a predominantly school organisationstructure. They provide practical training on the basisof a simple level of equipment, have limited externalrelations and are normally under state control. Theseschool enterprises tend to confine their objectives tothe educational mandate.

This type of school enterprise generates no specialinput costs. However, in order to keep trying to mini-mise the costs of training, and at the same time maxi-mise the economic benefit of existing resources, asituation may arise whereby learning achievementsmay have to be reduced in favour of directly market-able output factors, e.g., the production of goods by thetrainees in the course of instruction. This illustratesone of the problems of combining commercial andeducational goals in some school enterprises.

There are other school enterprises, however, which tryto achieve an effective balance between educational


and economic goals. In such schools, although thecosts of the input factors, such as manpower, equip-ment, infrastructure and material costs are substan-tially high, this is balanced by high earnings from thesale of goods and services. These schools achieve apositive net cost balance because they are able to earnsubstantial amounts of sundry income through voca-tional upgrading measures that utilise the existinginputs (in the case of PIKA, 30% of all income isattained in this way).52 This may be attributed to thefact that such schools are more effective than otherschools in adjusting to local market conditions. At thesame time, they are able to increase their sale of goodsand services without sacrificing their learning achieve-ments. This has been made possible by combiningeconomic and educational goals in the marketing ofteaching services, such as offering further vocationaltraining courses for welfare institutions and localindustry enterprises.

In school enterprises that offer self-employmentoriented occupational training and social educationaimed at strengthening the self-help potential in urbansquatter areas, there is a good basis through schoolenterprises for self-financing through self-employmentwithin the executing institutions. This can be clearlyseen from the experience of the Don Bosco Self-Employment Research Institute, Howrah. Here theincome generated by self-employment is sharedbetween the school, the bank, teachers and supportingstaff, till the trainee is able to pay off loans and a fixedpercentage of operating costs. The salaries ofteachers, etc., have to, however, still be paid throughgovernmental subsidies, donor agencies or contractwork carried out for modern industry by the DonBosco Technical School. This sharing of incomeapproach serves as an incentive for all parties toparticipate in the training programme.

Self-support is as important for an individual as it isfor the institution. Many of the students in educationalinstitutions, particularly in vocational courses, comefrom families which have limited resources. The mo-dality of school enterprises has been shown to createincome for poor students and their families through thesale of goods and services produced by the students,and also to reduce opportunity costs for the partici-pants who decide to go to school instead of work.

Principles for assessing the suitability of thedifferent modes of financing

School enterprises are economically efficient insti-tutions as they combine commercial production andeducational objectives and most of them are also ableto cover their operating costs. They, nevertheless,

52 See Greinert, W.-D. and Wiemann, G. 1993, pp. 48-49

have to be dependent upon external contributions,especially during the initial phases. Due to the slowdevelopment of their financial basis, school enterpriseshave long take-off periods. At the start of theseprogrammes, school enterprises are able to financerunning costs to a very small extent and are thus relianton outside financing. It is only in the well-establishedschool enterprises existing outside state control thatthe training costs are fully covered from the income ofthe school enterprise, both from the training divisionand the production division (PIKA, Indonesia, andDon Bosco, India).

However, when assessing the suitability of thedifferent modes of external financing, the followingeducational and equity considerations should be takeninto account:

Educational considerations

• The combination of training and productionrequires adequately trained personnel and betterschool quality.

• A shift of financing responsibility directly to aprivate enterprise may leave little scope forconcentrating on the learning objectives of theenterprise as this would clash with the businessmanagement and commercial objectives of theprivate firm.

• The more and more ‘marketable’ self-financingcourses may distort the educational priorities ofschool enterprises. School enterprises should there-fore limit their continuing education courses forregional industry, especially when it interferes withthe educational goals of the trainees within theschool enterprise.

• The emphasis on investment costs for physicalinfrastructure, equipment and teaching material,and the neglect of operating costs such as salaries,training instructors and social multipliers is detri-mental to the successful implementation of thelearning objectives of school enterprises. For,without well-trained instructors, school enterprisescannot be successfully implemented.

• School enterprises incorporate the notion of socialeducation and effective linkages between schooland community as well as between production andlearning. These extra functions of school enter-prises require expensive investments in adequatelyqualified teachers and instructors as well as in theemployment of local craftsmen, social workers andtechnical experts for supportive measures.

• Financing should not only be on the basis of acalculation of economic efficiency as this calcu-lation takes into account those learning results towhich a monetary value may be applied. However,learning results very often depend upon thetrainees’ prior education, his learning and retention


ability, and his interest. Furthermore, severallearning outcomes are not amenable to objectivemeasurement. Particularly, the results of theaffective and social learning dimension (moralvalues, team work, and problem-solving) are diffi-cult to measure in monetary terms. Finally, severaloutcomes of learning relate to institutional andmanagerial prerequisites such as a co-operativework environment.

• Training and education tasks should always takepriority over the cost recovery aspect.

• The mode of financing should give due con-sideration to the aspect of sustainability of schoolenterprises. Heavy reliance on non-governmentalsources may create the problem of not only externalindebtedness, but also sustainability of schoolenterprises in addition to cultural and administra-tive problems.

Equity and social considerations

• The training of people from low-income familiesrequires more time and personnel in order to makeup for restrictive out-of-school influences.

• School enterprises, as the case studies exemplify,are intended not only for trainees from middle-classfamilies but also for beneficiaries who can bearneither the direct nor the indirect costs of voca-tional training or further education, not least to say,the costs of extended training. Therefore, in manycases, grants or subsidies for the trainees arerequired to cover the direct training costs and oftenalso the indirect costs for accommodation, foodand/or transportation. These are essential to enablepeople from low-income families to participate intraining. Governmental scholarships and loanprogrammes should however aim to overcome theinherent administrative and structural weaknessesof these programmes and serve as an antidote to theregressive effects of increases in fees, especiallywith regard to creating a system of separate schoolsfor the rich and the poor.

• School enterprises which offer decentralisedtraining and advisory services to recipients from theinformal sector may have to bear high operatingcosts, mainly for staff payment and transportation.However, a nominal fee for training and advisoryservices provided to small and micro-entrepreneursand self-employed business women might serve asan additional educational objective of promotingcost-conscious entrepreneurial thinking and/or sus-taining the will for self-help.

• Although private commercial training institutesmay provide good job-related training opportunitiesfor some target groups, they are largely unsuited tomeeting the competency requirements of all targetgroups. In fact, most enterprise-based private

sector training tends to perpetuate the existingsocial disparities.

• School enterprises very often have to make up forinsufficient basic educational competencies. Thisrequires longer training periods than in normaltraining institutions.

• A consideration of these reasons clearly shows thatthe main burden and responsibility for the financingof school enterprises must be carried by thenational budgets. This does not mean that it mightnot be reasonable and worthwhile to seek non-governmental sources by which at least part of thefinancing could be provided otherwise. Non-governmental sources, however, can only supple-ment the governmental efforts; they cannot beviewed as reliable sources or as alternative sourcesto public finances.

3.11 Mixes of private and public rolesThe case studies have shown that the sponsors inschool enterprises are mostly governments, privateinstitutions, and donor agencies. Private sponsorsinclude churches and non-governmental agencies.Their existence is separate from the management ofthe school.

The importance of an environment that will encourageand accept widely dispersed initiatives in such en-deavours has long been stressed. Meanwhile, alongwith maturation in the development of nationaltraining systems have come both a rising awareness oflocal needs and increasing pressures on nationalbudget: a combination that is encouraging decentrali-sation. However, state intervention is justified inlimited situations such as financing training, directprovision, and various sorts of complementarypolicies.

Role of private institutions

Across countries, and even within countries, there areinnumerable mixes of private and public roles. Theso-called ‘nonformal sector’ in education and trainingis heterogeneous in many respects, and the veryexistence of this diversity lends flexibility and adapt-ability to national systems of education and trainingtaken as a whole. It is among the ‘non-formal’agencies that one will often find the readiest responsesto new minor and, sometimes, major skill demands,along with perhaps the greatest diversity in degrees offormality and informality in the mixes and levels ofskills taught, and in the tightness or looseness of asso-ciations with particular employers. The centralquestion here is: how much public control or supportshould be introduced? and where public interventionsare involved: how far responsibility and initiative maybe decentralised?


Local business community are often willing and ableto accept a much greater responsibility for productiveactivity in schools. There is enough evidence from avariety of countries to show that such activities can becost-covering and thus be neutral in the public budget.

Increasingly, industrial and employers’ organisationshave developed linkages with schools, and they designand implement production and training-related activi-ties jointly with school staff. This may be under theheading of technology education or market analysis.Such programmes are based on co-operation betweenmultiple centres of control. These are organisations atdifferent levels that have a minimum capacity and aninterest in participating in training and production thatcannot be handled by the school.

Apart from such more institutionalised forms of inter-action, there are also numerous occasions where indi-vidual schools make arrangements with individualfarmers, artisans, or service institutions in the locality.It is more and more common for such activities to befunded by implementing agencies or through parentalcontributions.

Role of the State

Despite the several advantages of co-operation withlocal industry in the area of skill development, it isunrealistic to limit all skill development to industry.The extent and quality of the private sector is con-strained by the nature of the economy and level ofenterprise development. These constraints require acontinuing presence on the part of the government toensure an adequate amount and quality of training.

Vocational and technical education, especially at thesecondary level, has remained a central concern for thestate. Relating vocational education and trainingdirectly to employment has remained much on theagenda as it remains a key instrument for the state toconfront social and economic problems of nationalproportions. Governments and policy makers aretrying to reorganise their education so as to cope withrapid changes in the economy, in society, and in theworld of work. Twenty years ago, employees wereassigned specific routine tasks and were expected toperform them reliably. Today, an effective businessoperates under different assumptions. Workers areexpected to identify and solve problems, learn skills,personally manage non-routine problems, and makedecisions which require a broad understanding of thework context. Despite all their weaknesses, there iscall for public technical and vocational educationestablishments to play a definite role in finding newways of teaching and learning, in promoting the socio-economic development of communities, and in makinglearning more relevant for individuals and societies.

This includes a wide acceptance of the public technicaland vocational education’s responsibility for thedevelopment of competencies relating to the changingworld of work (coping with new technologies andproduction processes as well as the displacement ofworkers and the growing informal sector) and thestructuring of education towards production skills andself-employment.

As a result, school enterprises are increasingly comingto be incorporated in government educational policy.The manner in which this is being done is unique inIndia where the government has delegated apex insti-tutions to provide adequate guidelines on the planningand implementation of school enterprises. In China,also, the Open Door Policy, and the creation of SpecialEconomic Zones (SEZ) in certain areas of China, haveprovided the momentum for vocationalising to changethe ratio of general secondary school students to voca-tional school students.53 School enterprises havebecome an accepted part of the school with consider-able support and guidance by state laws, local ordi-nances, and polices.54 Regulations governing strategicinputs into the education system ensure that the statestill strongly influences what goes on in school enter-prises.

At the same time, governments must acknowledgetheir limitations as the only agency of socialisation.Public vocational institutions are organisationally,pedagogically, culturally and financially constrained toprovide relevant education for the fast changing worldof work. Although government should not be relievedof its responsibility of providing core skills andknowledge, instruments can be designed for, andresources be provided to the schools for implemen-tation. Other areas of learning, however, can bedefined at the local level through a direct interactionbetween schools, community and other interest groupssuch as industry or cultural organisations, and beimplemented with the support of those parties con-cerned. Here, the role of the national governmentwould be more indirect: providing guidance, co-ordi-nation, professional services and supplementaryfunding. Thus, while there may be a clear centralresponsibility for core skills, i.e., foundation skills inlanguage and mathematics as well as basic knowledge,science and social studies, the production and enter-prise dimension can solicit direct inputs from otheragencies such as the community and the local businessworld. The nature and level of these contributionsvary across countries and different socio-economic andcultural situations.

53 Hook, B. and Lee, W.O., 199754 Cheng, K. M. (guest ed.); 1992, pp. 47-52


With international and domestic pressures for thedevelopment of primary education, secondary andvocational education may become major victims ofbudgetary squeezes; but with the expansion of ele-mentary education on the one hand, and economicreform policies including globalisation and inter-national competition on the other, the governmentswould be compelled to acknowledge the need forsecondary vocational education.

Governments are confronted with the policy questionof how far they wish to go in curriculum decentrali-sation and in allowing enterprises to participate indefining what youngsters should learn from school. Inmany countries, the problems of decentralisation dealwith questions relating to equivalency of certificationthroughout the country: channels that would enablelocal enterprises to provide a meaningful input intocurriculum decision-making. This requires great com-petence on the part of the planner and specialist toconceptualise curriculum structures that can absorb agood deal of local participation and handle fruitfulinteraction with enterprises and other local interestgroups (e.g. industry, non-governmental organisationsand parents). The practice, now common in indus-trialised countries, is for Ministries of Education to seta curriculum framework with attainment targets thatspecify types of skills and knowledge, and for appro-priate curriculum organisations to develop model workplans for institutions to use as references.55 This state-controlled market model may be useful too for the lessindustrialised countries. Characteristic for this modelare forms of co-operation between public vocationalschools and private training enterprises or inter-company training centres. Small and medium-sizedenterprises participate in this form of training pre-dominantly. The government provides a regulatoryframework for technical and vocational education inprivate enterprises or institutions.

It may take time for school enterprises to gain theacceptance of governmental bureaucracy, in particular,official recognition of their graduate qualification.Governments should, nevertheless, support educationalprocesses in school enterprises by adhering to a policyframework in favour of school enterprises. Govern-ments should formulate polices that support andextend these types of schools and training institutes.

55 Ministries of Education in OECD countries generally

concentrate on five essential functions:(1) setting the objectives for the curriculum;(2) approving the materials for use in public schools;(3) financing those materials;(4) ensuring that students from underprivileged backgrounds

have an equality of access;(5) disseminating the results of innovations, and reporting

progress to the public at large.

The inclusion of production units has been verydifficult for planners and managers to cope with, as itrelates to a variety of expectations about combiningeducation and production, and has to do with a domainof activities for which schools tend to be the leastequipped to produce tangible results. A critical step inthe planning stage is the effort to reach a consensusabout what kind of production is required and whatpurposes it is meant to serve, the nature of technicalskills, the connection between schools and the labourmarket, and the desirability of getting youngstersinvolved in productive work that may sometimes beconsidered exploitative and manual.

Role of donor agencies

External agencies participate in school enterprise pro-grammes in a significant way, being directly involvedin key elements of the programmes, including the verydesign of the learning content, its substance, structureand methodology.

The case studies of The Don Bosco Technical Institute(India) and PIKA (Indonesia) illustrate that a greaterinvolvement of donor agencies generally assures asuccessful launching of a new approach. However, thedanger clearly lies in a poor spread of these innovativeapproaches. The disproportionate administrativeattention and resource inputs, and the protective atti-tude of such initiatives have, in many cases, been help-ful in improving the image of school enterprises. Butit remains a very difficult operation to bring suchinitiatives from a pilot to a national scale and to trans-fer effectively full responsibility into the ministrymainstream. The PIKA case study has shown that,eventually, imported training institutions can come tobe indigenised, or adapted and absorbed fully intoindigenous practices. It illustrates that the support ofan external agency has, over the years, been restrictedto technical assistance for in-service training forteachers and managers, as well as for writingmaterials.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Western donor agenciesfound some encouragement in supporting the linkagebetween learning and working as this was seen to helpimprove the relevance of education and training for theworld of work and, at the same time, offset thegrowing difficulties of covering the high unit runningcost of learning institutions. In recent years, thedevelopment of school enterprises within the insti-tutions of general secondary education has notattracted widespread donor support. These are nowbeing conducted by governments themselves in co-operation with local industry. This is not a bad devel-opment as better long-term results seem to be possiblewhere control over planning and implementation


remains firmly with the appropriate national andprivate institutions.

Seen in the context of vocational training assistance todeveloping countries, this assistance has concentratedmostly on supporting the establishment of vocationaltraining systems as a means of improving their infra-structure, whereas governments and local institutionshave been left to realise the integration of vocationaltraining for broader regional, trade and socio-economicdevelopment, including the informal sector, throughthe project approach.

This segmented approach has currently come undersevere criticism. It is argued that if vocational trainingaid is to have a progressive orientation, its futurestrategy must be the establishment of diversified voca-tional training systems in which government, non-governmental organisations, donor agencies and localinstitutions play an important role in building bridgesbetween formal and non-formal vocational educationas well as between formal and informal economicsectors.

By incorporating school enterprises as one basic typeof model within diversified vocational trainingsystems, it is possible to make these systems moreflexible and responsive to labour and market con-ditions. The notion of school enterprises is animportant basic type of training which strikes a middleground between formal and informal economies aswell as between formal and non-formal modes of tech-nical and vocational education. Vocational trainingassistance should acknowledge the fact that greaterinvolvement of donor agencies may assure a successfullaunching of a new approach. However, if it is notintegrated into a diversified system development, itcannot have long-term and sustainable effects.

3.12 Factors that may enhanceschool enterprises

A policy environment

The promotion of the concept of school enterprisesneeds support from policy makers.

Policy and legislation should influence the integrationof production with technical and vocational education.Government could improve training’s responsivenessto market forces by building a capacity for labour-market analysis, the monitoring of training costs andoutcomes, and information gathering from employersto determine the situation regarding the demand andsupply of training in production fields which have ademand in the market.

A useful starting point for any policy discussion onschool enterprise is the issue of to what extent areschools in a position to introduce market production.This raises not just logistical questions about resourceavailability, but also value orientation of the commu-nity. As schools are identified with academic culture,their market orientation may represent a culture ofmanual work which may be regarded by the commu-nity as inferior. Policy should take into account towhat extent the organisational and pedagogical set-upof a school is appropriate for the effective develop-ment of vocational skills (as opposed to the merepractical ones).

It is imperative that, while providing a policy directiontowards technical and vocational education, pastexperiences of various schemes of linking educationalprocesses with the world of work are taken into ac-count. Some of the problems identified earlier wouldneed to be removed through suitable measures. Asregards overall policy, problems may include weak-nesses in the conceptualisation of school enterprises,lack of clear policy guidelines that provide properdirectives to the institutions.

Development policy at the institutional level

At the institutional level, school enterprises must beseen primarily as places for training and contributingto technological development. School enterprises mustbe quick to adapt to the demands of new technologiesand processes; all of which translates into an adjust-ment in the training content.

School enterprises should follow a policy which pro-vides the best trade-off in reaching social skills andproductive skills on the one hand, and the financialcapabilities of local, regional and national com-munities on the other.

Where school enterprises exist as mere profit-makinginstitutions, these might provide dangerous compe-tition to existing small enterprises. Since competitivesituations cannot be ruled out, school enterprisesrequire carefully adjusted development policies.

The relevance of school enterprises in the context ofthe development of technical and vocational trainingmakes sense only when a balance is struck betweeneconomic, educational and social goals.

School enterprises must function in the market place.School enterprises can optimally and most effectivelyuse market orientation as a vehicle for impartingtechnical and vocational skills if it is an integral part ofa trade/industrial promotion programme.


Parameters of ethical standards

Training is more efficient and effective throughproduction. It is important, however, to ensure thattrainees do not become low-wage workers or boundservants to the cause of production. Skills transfersand positive work attitude are goals that must be keptin mind.

Any productive activity in the context of school enter-prises must be conducted within the parameters ofethical standards demanded by the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO). The risks that child labouris involved in technical and vocational training insti-tutions must be tackled at the policy and institutionallevel.

Diversify financing

As school enterprises are primarily institutions fortraining human resources, and places where educationis a public and not a private good, self-financing andcost-recovery methods of financing should be seenonly as supplementary options, rather than as alter-native sources to public finances.

Incentives

The incentives that encourage the achieving of out-comes, may include reduced taxes for school enter-prises, investment incentives, subsidised wages, pre-ferred prices as well as industrial parks where theenterprises within them are exempt from taxes for acertain period of time. Industrial parks may bedesigned to enable students to be strongly establishedbefore they have to face the rigorous competition ofthe world of work.

In focusing on productivity and competitiveness,school enterprises should not loose sight of the need tobring the poor into these schools. Poor people’sprincipal asset is their labour, and improving theirproductivity and earnings is crucial for getting themout of poverty.

Students may be encouraged to undertake skill trainingbecause of a stipend, or poorer adult workers may beexempted from paying fees, or schools enterprises maybe encouraged to integrate the poor in their trainingprogrammes because the government, a donor agencyor a clerical organisation is ready to meet the costs.The location of school enterprises in poor areas can bea major source of skill acquisition for the economicallydisadvantaged.

The business risks arising during the starting phaseshould be taken over by partners: state, church andnon-governmental organisations. For example, in thecase of school enterprises specialising in constructiontrades, the government or church should make land

and material available for the construction of houses,and be active in the acquisition of contracts especiallyin the construction of settlements in poorer areas.

Advice

School enterprises will require advice from experts inthe government, private enterprise institutions oruniversities. This should enable them to build a strongbase for their enterprises, increase productivity, andimprove their training.

Networking

An essential element can be the enhancement of net-working among teachers, managers and educationalistsinvolved in school enterprises. Learning from eachother can take place between institutions, or betweenregions and districts, and it tends to be very inspiringfor all participants. The school management shouldco-operate with representatives of the local economy,community, and region.

Certification

The government must recognise the certification ofschool enterprises. Students must receive certificationthat encourages participation in the scheme as this maylead to greater status and promotion.

Efforts may have to be made to enhance the socialprestige of non-formal institutions by establishingcommunication with formal institutions, and byendeavouring to obtain official recognition for thediplomas and certificates.

To the extent that school enterprises may socialisestudents to simpler occupations, it may implicitly denyaccess to higher occupations which require a goodfoundation of general academic science. It should,therefore, be possible to return to the academic streamwithout undue loss of time.

Support infrastructure

School enterprises require a well-designed and effec-tive support infrastructure. Some of the most criticaltypes of supports are teacher education, curriculumdevelopment, and ongoing professional and technicalsupport.

The introduction of school enterprises requires anadjustment of existing pedagogical services. Here, thegreater task tends to be the development of effectivelinkages with industrial organisations. Guidance andactive contribution of these is important for ensuringthe relevance and effectiveness of technologyeducation and production projects.


A monitoring system

Continuous and systematic monitoring should be con-ducted. In the guidelines provided by the CentralInstitute of Vocational Education, India56, it has beenrecommended that a continuous appraisal should beconducted at intervals of not more than one month.The appraisal should focus on production (rawmaterials, means of production, finished product,quality, labour use, infrastructure facilities) andfinancing (running cost, depreciation, incomegenerated, incentives to trainees and teachers,extension activities, innovations).

Review reports should be compiled once every month.They should be kept on record for reference andguidance for the immediate future. The accounts mustbe well-maintained and audited on a yearly basis.Learning outcomes should also be monitored regularly.

High standard of training

A reduction of operating costs by means of productionfor the market is only possible if the goods andservices are of a high standard. The aim, therefore,should be to provide training of a very high orderwhich leads to the deepening and diversification ofskills which vocational courses are to provide.

Critical variables for the success of school enter-prises

Evaluations of individual institutions have shown thatthe critical variables for successful implementation ofschool enterprises are:• good leadership• a common understanding between management,

staff and the community about the nature andpurpose of the programme

• enforceable agreements on inputs to be provided• transparency in decision making and accounting• participation by the communities within the area of

influence of the school enterprise• economic feasibility of the production and

marketing schemes• balance between economic and educational

objectives• awareness of the participants as regards labour

relations, the rights of workers, systems ofremuneration, and the ways in which appropriationof the economic surplus is effected, etc.

• assistance for trainees in the setting up of mini-business enterprises

• innovative performance and the pursuit ofexcellence in economic life in order to stimulateboth the formation of human resources and theirmore effective utilisation

56 Verma, A. P., 1996

• the existence of a productive enterprise which isoriented to market conditions as decisive for thefinancial basis of meeting training costs

• public financial support for investments in inno-vations and improving the quality of teaching

• perception of school enterprises as a public good towhich all sections of society have access, ratherthan as a private good which restricts access to onlysome segments of the population

• intimate relationships with the firms to whichschool enterprises provide skilled labour andtechnicians.

Lessons to be learned

From the study of school enterprises, it may be neces-sary to take into account the following principles infinancing and managing technical and vocationaleducation that is employment-related and vocationallyspecialised.• The importance of both general and technical com-

ponents of vocational skills within the definition‘human capital’.

• The importance of technical and vocational educa-tion as a decentralised activity. Local initiative is aleading force in school enterprises. They are beingdriven not only by educational authorities, but alsoby local business and community groups,industries, and non-governmental organisations.These groups have the technology and expertise inboth traditional and newly emerging skills. Thesenew categories of participants are deeply affectingthe ‘vision’ and expressed interests of traditionalcentral educational authorities.

• It takes a combination of methods of vocationaleducation theory, on-the-job training, and diversesorts of non-formal methods to provide a flexiblesystem for the formation of human resources in anysociety.

• Closeness to utilisation and applications of compe-tencies is of crucial importance for investments inemployment-related vocationally specialised skills.School enterprises entail the notion of trainingpeople in close relation to future employers, so asto place them straight away in jobs that use theirskills.

• People are motivated and show an interest instudies when future returns become visible to them.Motivation also means giving scope for inde-pendent endeavours, thereby enlisting the creativepotential and participation of many people in theformation and utilisation of skills.

• Basic educational competencies are the prime stepin developing vocationally specialised competen-cies in men and women. If insufficient attention ispaid to these competencies, investments in tech-nical and vocational education can have a distortingeffect.


• The scope for development through vocationalspecialisation and employment-related trainingdepends on the scale of the market. This meansparticipation in markets for new and innovativeproducts must be greatly enlarged. It also meansproducing goods of high quality, rather than poorimitations of products that others produce better.There is every indication that school enterpriseswill continue to develop, as schools seek investorsand opportunities to produce products that meetinternational standards. The scale and extensive-ness of such a phenomenon is perhaps most dis-tinctive in China and less so in other countries.

School enterprises present clear evidence on the flexi-bility and adaptability of such schools to changes inlabour and market conditions. They meet not onlytemporary gaps in the formation of critical skillsamong the adult populations, but also long-termlearning goals. And they constitute a basic type withintechnical and vocational education systems, supple-menting on-the-job and enterprise training. Schoolenterprises represent an important way of diversifyingthe finance of technical and vocational training insti-tutions.

Bibliography Page 59

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school enterprises: combining vocational learning with production

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professionnel

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national pioneer

latin american

industrial