The cross-cutting issues which could be considered under the above main themes will be: Gender, Disabilities & Quality.
Short description of the four main themes:
Social Justice: Access to education is usually understood as an opportunity to get admission for various courses and programmes leading to certification. In non-formal situations it may mean creating awareness among the participants on a mass scale regarding livelihood, basic health, legal rights, including human rights and participation in all spheres of a democratic society which places emphasis on inclusive growth and development. However, often we find that educational access to the majority of people living in poor and developing countries does not go beyond formal admission or certification. Access in this sense does not lead them to success because of the shortcomings and failures of institutions and programmes which suffer from many weaknesses in terms of policy making, planning, execution, evaluation and governance. As a result, in many developing countries of the Commonwealth, the Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees do not provide justice to many who are otherwise academically qualified. Poor self-esteem, lack of job opportunities and poor standards are the negative indicators of the value and quality of the educational programmes in the developing countries. Where awareness programmes are aimed at mass audiences to improve their livelihood through day to day activities such as farming and skills-based economic activities, the common people are not sufficiently aware of the guarantees provided by the constitutions and the laws of the respective countries.
In order to provide them with their fundamental rights as citizens of an equal society, there should be arrangements to give them access to education, health and employment. ODL is ideally placed to make an impact on this dismal scenario through effective and imaginative use of different modes of education as well as appropriate and affordable technologies.
Community Development: Over the centuries, universities played a social role but indirectly through creation, preservation and extension of knowledge to society in general and communities in particular. However, for various reasons, universities gradually started looking more and more inward in the name of specialization and have turned themselves into ivory towers. Though the importance of research, discovery of new knowledge and application of it in controlled situations of experimentation need specialisation, with the growing demand for democratisation of education at all levels, universities can ill afford to remain as islands of excellence, when the communities sustaining then are silently turning into deserts due to global warming, climate change and various forms of industrial/ nuclear pollution.
The link between the universities and the communities has never been felt as keenly important as it is today. The universities have to reach out to the communities by making their own policies and structures more flexible and relevant to community development in all aspects. Different types of educational institutions such as new forms of university campuses, community colleges, virtual universities/colleges, online/e-learning institutions etc. need to be created to effectively respond to the needs of the community, keeping in view the geographical, social, economic, political and cultural specificities in view. Mindless homogenisation certainly leads to a weakening of the different spheres of human learning and also results in the extinction of traditional economic activities, cultural mores, languages , art and culture of people. In order to arrest this process– a perhaps inevitable part of the impact of globalization - ODL philosophies and practices need to rethink their role, potential and possibilities with the view to reversing the present negative trends and ensuring as far as possible the continuity of communities with their individual identities.
Skills Development: To achieve the previously described goals, the members of the community need the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes. In order to bridge the disconnect between traditional skills and modern literacy or vice-versa, we need to fill the gaps in order to recognize prior skills and integrate them with the final goals of abstract theories to ensure learning for development in the real sense. Appropriate, affordable and assistive technologies play an important role in addressing the issues of disabilities, gender and other inequalities. Traditional knowledge, native wisdom and experiences need to be recognised and certified.
The role of skills development and training in national development has long been recognised. The subsector includes formal, non-formal and informal modes, with different government Ministries, development partners, NGOs, private and faith-based providers and local community groups all involved. This diversity requires enhanced coordination and resource-sharing to be effective.
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has not enjoyed significant proportions of national education budgets and tends to be under resourced. Increasing numbers of young people are looking for training for employability. The role of the informal sector of the economy in providing access to informal skills training is becoming more prominent. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that in Africa, 90% of employment is in the informal sector. There is potential for important links between formal, non-formal and informal skills training systems. These links can be strengthened by the introduction of national qualifications frameworks and systems which recognise prior learning and competence.
The subsector is inequitably accessed; boys benefit more than girls, urban students more than rural dwellers, learners with higher levels of basic education more than those with lower levels. Technology can be an important tool in reaching out. How can the application of appropriate technology and innovative approaches address some of these inequalities?
The skills development sub-theme seeks to explore these issues. In particular we will discuss how the application of flexible and blended learning methodologies can help to mediate the key issues of access, quality and efficiency in skills development and training.
Partnership and collaboration is a feature of the work of practitioners in open and distance learning. How have North-South and South-South collaboration and partnerships benefited the participants in skills development programmes? Regional cooperation is also an important support system for many practitioners: what are the effective and cost-efficient mechanisms for getting the most out of such enterprise?
Formal Education: Teacher education at all levels is crucial to assure quality. Scaling up of teacher education provision is possible only through information and communication techonoligies (ICTs). However, we need to consider qulity issues and new ways of addressing teacher education. Without scaling up teacher education, quality cannot be assured. Open schooling is one way of assuring quality education of the under priviledged, whereas ODL is the methodology to scale up. Without adequate number of trained teachers, the Millenium Development Goals will remain a distant dream. In this context, revamping teacher educaton becomes a priority.
|
