Package No. SD-5 “ Training of Trainers and Assessors on Effective Teaching and Pedagogy’’ a  component of  Skills For Employment Investment Program (SEIP) under ministry of Finance.

 

Introduction

*  Bangladesh is one of the largest supplier of human resources in the international labor market. More than 10 million workers of Bangladesh have been engaged in development works all over the world at the moment. Although Bangladesh enjoys a major share in the international labor market, our foreign currency earning is not at par with the number of our workers. This is due to the skill level of our workers and the wage they earn through their work. Our workers are mostly unskilled, a little portion is semi-skilled. As a result they are at the bottom level of the wage table. Had they been skilled or semi-skilled, their wage would have been much better, the remittance flow would have been many fold and our domestic development works would get a great momentum.

*  Considering these facts, Bangladesh government have taken projects to enhance skills of our workers, targeting the international labor market. The Finance Division, Ministry of Finance, initiated the SEIP project, through which various skill development and skill enhancing activities are being taken. One important area was to improve the skills of the trainers through Pedagogy training, who would be ultimately entrusted to impart training to the work force vying for foreign employment.

*  The current skills supply systems of Bangladesh do not meet the skill demands. There remains a great mismatch between skills demand and skills supply. The current production of skilled workers is not focused on industry demand and is segmented and poorly coordinated. In the current system, there is no nationally consistent approach to quality assurance, with current qualifications not based on standards that align with the occupations or skill levels in industry.

*  One of the main constraints to effective skills training delivery is the lack of pedagogical skills including teaching technique, methodology and assessment of knowledge and skills etc. of teachers employed in training institutions. Most trainers in public and private training institutions have received little pedagogical training, including occupation specific skills training and have little or no industry experience. More specifically, teachers may be qualified and proficient in their content knowledge but skills they lack are usually related to the knowledge and application of pedagogy. It is recognized that when teachers understand and use pedagogy in their teaching they enjoy flexibility to meet trainees’ vast array of learning needs.

*  Employers know best what skills are required in industry and they can easily assess skills received by trainees in training institutions. The project has therefore strategized to involve industry assessors in project to conduct assessment of trainee performance and determine training effectiveness of training institutions. Though industry assessors have acquired skills and knowledge on their specific occupations by engaging themselves in work for many years but they lack pedagogical skills and technique of assessing trainees’ performance.

1.6 In Tranche 1, the SEIP has been implementing an integrated capacity development strategy focused on developing capacity of the trainers and industry assessors who would be involved in project activities. The project extended capacity development programs on pedagogy to equip trainers and assessors for effective training delivery and proper assessment to achieve SEIP training targets. Industry assessors were trained on pedagogical skills and in return, they would ensure that assessment of trainee performance, facilitation services to measure effectiveness of training at the institution level and skills certification support services are properly conducted.

 

Objective of the SEIP

The overall objective of the project is to qualitatively and quantitatively expand the skilling capacity of identified public and private training providers by establishing and operationalizing a responsive skills ecosystem and delivery mechanism through a combination of well-defined set of funding triggers and targeted capacity support. Specifically, the objectives are to:

  • Improve program for skilling new entrants and up-skilling existing workforce to

Enhance productivity and growth of priority industry sectors;

  • Impart skills training linked to gainful employment or self-employment through PKSF partners and their livelihood programs as well as through Bangladesh Bank Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Department linked to jobs in SMEs;
  • Develop a network of training providers that are endorsed by industry for providing excellence of training to meet the skills needs of employers;
  • Establish and implement a strategy to address the special needs of groups specified in the NSDP and ensure their participation in SEIP programs;
  • Implement a vocational trainer development program for trainers and assessors and a management leadership program for training provider management reflecting NSDP requirements;
  • Strengthen capacity of BTEB in approving training providers registration process, course accreditation and monitoring quality assurance and implementation procedures of training providers;
  • Support the training providers for capacity development to ensure quality training delivery mechanism;
  • Establish and institutionalize a credible recognition of prior learning (RPL) system;
  • Support the NSDC and key government ministries to strengthen institutional arrangements and coordination to enable the TVET system to meet policy objectives within a coherent skills development framework; and
  • Support the establishment and operationalization of a National Human Resources

Development Fund (NHRDF).

After completion of the program the impact will be increased income and productivity of the working population aged 15 years and above. The outcome will be increased employment in priority sectors and skills for males and females. There are four outputs targeted that include: (i) market responsive inclusive skills training delivered; (ii) quality assurance system strengthened; (iii) institutions strengthened; and (iv) effective program management.

Role of LCBS

*  LCBS Dhaka was entrusted with the responsibility to implement the objectives of SEIP through providing Training of Trainers and Assessors Training under the SD-5 program. An agreement between SEIP and LCBS was signed on 01 August 2016 in this regard. Under this program a total of 1020 trainees were targeted (200 Assessors and 820 Trainers) to impart two fold training (3 days training to Assessors and 12 days Training of Trainers) at the LCBS campus.

Program

6.1 The main purpose of this assignment was twofold (i) to design and develop need-based pedagogical training module with a duration of 12 working days  for trainers engaged  by different institutions under SEIP and in case of assessors, the  training duration of 3 days; (ii) to organize training  programs on Effective Teaching and Pedagogy. This assignment was run on the following process flow:

  1. Studying the current competency standard for trainers’ qualification (CBT&A) and deve lopment of ‘Pedagogical Training Module’ aligned with CBT standard Trainers qualification.
  2. Modules were developed based on the competency standards, and all elements of Units of Competency related teaching technique and assessment methodology were addressed in the module.
  3. The developed modules were used to design the following training materials-

(i)     Trainers Guide having ‘Lesson Plans’ for every Session

(ii)     Participants Guide having key learning and exercises for every session

(iii)    Assessment Guide covering assessment criteria, pedagogy and method of scoring for

every Unit of Competency of the Qualification

(iv)    Details of training aids for using in each Session.

(v)    The main focus of the program was on designing of instructional material, and delivery

of Competency-based training and assessments

 

Deliverables

7.1 The consultant team delivered the following as per the contract:

(i)          Two copies of Inception Report;

(ii)          By end of month one, draft progress reports on the deliverables (list of Facilitators

trainers/ resource persons and training participants);

 

(iii)         By end of month two, designed and developed training module/curriculum, trainers’

Hand-out and learning materials for ToT module on pedagogy;

 

(iv)          By end of month three, submitted quarterly progress report to the Executive

Project Director

(v)        By the end of month 15, complete training of targeted number of trainers and

Assessors and pedagogy including assessment and certification;

 

(vi)         By the end of month 15, submit a complete training development strategy for

tranche 2;

and

(vii)       Three copies of Final Report and three copies in CD-ROM which will include

recommendations and action plan to expand this process.

Initiation of the program

 

  • Agreement between SEIP Project and LCBS was signed on 1st August 2016 to initiate the training program. For some unavoidable issues the program started on 2nd April 2017.

 

  • The total number of trainees was fixed at 1020, which included 820 TOT trainee and 200 Assessors. Batch-wise training delivery was planned. The Total number of batches was fixed to be 41, each batch containing 25 trainees. Out of 41 batches 8 batches were for Assessor and 33 batches for TOT. The Assessors training started first. The training venue was LCBS campus and the lists of trainees were provided by the SEIP Project. Assessor Training Started on 30th May 2017 and Completed on 27th July 2017. For Assessors Training a comprehensive Assessor Guide, consisting 4 modules, was developed aligning with BTEB assessor’s module and approved by the project authority.