Vocational education must provide students with life skills<\/p>\n
A. Chaedar Alwasilah, Dean, Faculty of Language and Arts Education,
\nIndonesian University of Education (UPI), Bandung, West Java<\/p>\n
The issue of teaching life skills has recently drawn the
\nattention of educators. The Kompas daily (Jan. 30), for example,
\nquoted the Director for Vocational Education Gatot Hari
\nPriowirjanto as saying that around 60 percent of high school
\ngraduates need life skills, and funds have been allocated for
\nvarious programs teaching life skills.<\/p>\n
This issue has been a major problem in our education. Many
\nschool early-leavers and even high school graduates who do not go
\non to college find themselves incompetent and unqualified to
\nsecure a decent job. Obviously the schools -- even vocational
\nschools -- throughout the country have not provided students with
\ncompetitive life skills. It is high time for education planners
\nin this country to critically redefine vocational education in a
\ncomprehensive way, given that labor and vocational problems are
\nnow largely dependent on global forces. The thorny problem of
\nIndonesian workers who were forced to leave their livelihood in
\nMalaysia, for example, is one glaring example.<\/p>\n
Scholars propose that \"integrative life planning\" bring
\ntogether many aspects of people's lives, their communities, and
\nthe larger society. Thus, among others, pluralism, spirituality,
\nand the community at large are determining variables in defining
\npolicies on vocational education and vocational training.<\/p>\n
In the Indonesian context, vocational planning should first
\naccommodate the changing global context. Ours has now become a
\nglobal village, so that trainees and vocational school students
\nshould be exposed to various jobs in the local and global
\nsetting.<\/p>\n
It is public knowledge that Indonesian workers in the Middle
\nEast, for example, are unable to compete with, say those from the
\nPhilippines. Less skilled, Indonesians are forced to do unskilled
\nwork. Foreign language skills seem to be a major ability lacking
\namong Indonesian workers.<\/p>\n
Considering the limited opportunities in the job market
\navailable at home, the vocational school curricular should
\nincorporate skills to enable students to work overseas. This
\nbelated global orientation is a must and should be translated
\ninto school subjects and skills demanded in the global market --
\nsuch as midwifery and international communication services,
\ncomputer and language skills; specifically English and Arabic for
\nvocational purposes.<\/p>\n
Second, vocational planning should weave lives into a
\nmeaningful whole. Traditionally it is believed that people need
\nto work to live. However, work alone cannot provide us with all
\nthat we want. Instead, we want a balance between work and other
\nlife functions. Students should be advised to prioritize work
\naccording to their unique individual, family, work, and community
\nneeds and values.<\/p>\n
The inborn aptitude for business and entrepreneurship of
\npeople from Tasikmalaya, West Java and Padang, West Sumatra, for
\nexample, has been overlooked. This should be reason enough to
\nestablish high schools in the area for entrepreneurship. The same
\nthing should also apply to other regions in the country.<\/p>\n
Third, vocational planning should connect family and work.
\nMuch more attention should be paid to potential conflicts between
\nfamily and work. Career professionals need to be aware of these
\nconflicts. Some parents often have to agree with their children
\nbeing employed in a sector that would otherwise be avoided.<\/p>\n
Getting a job is the beginning of work-family conflicts.
\nModern vocational schools need to establish a database of
\nemployment records of students' families.<\/p>\n
Fourth, vocational planning should value pluralism and
\ninclusivity. As a nation with ethnic, racial, religious, and
\ngeographic diversity, we need an education system that promotes
\nan understanding of differences.<\/p>\n
Diverse training in vocational programs, multicultural
\ncounseling courses in college, and political action for
\ndemocratization represent a constructive response to the fragile
\nand breakable interethnic and racial relations facing Indonesian
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
It is heartening to know that many non-Muslim owned
\nsupermarkets now employ promotion staff wearing the jilbab or
\nheadscarves. Such an attitude should be developed in the early
\nstages of education among students by allowing students, for
\nexample, to retain their religious and ethnic identities in
\nschool.<\/p>\n
Fifth, vocational planning should explore spirituality and
\nlife purposes. Spirituality is central to human beings, an
\naspect much neglected by experts in career development.<\/p>\n
Under the New Order, attending to religious obligations during
\noffice hours such as daily prayers for Muslims was tacitly
\ndiscouraged. Employees had to sneak around to observe the prayers
\nwith a guilty feeling.<\/p>\n
Expatriates and foreign business circles in Indonesia should
\nhave an informed awareness of the sense of spirituality here.
\nProviding Muslim employees with a spacious corner, say 16 square
\nmeters, to perform daily prayers will assure them that their
\nspiritual needs are attended to, and thus reinvigorate their
\ncommitment to their work.<\/p>\n
Sixth, vocational planning should manage personal transitions
\nand organizational changes. The most salient characteristic of
\nglobalization is change. Employees should develop an informed
\nawareness of potential organizational change at the workplace and
\nthus should be taught how to manage the process. Knowing and
\nobserving what is going on in other companies or non-business
\ninstitutions is a strategy to develop such awareness.<\/p>\n
Organizational changes will also affect individual
\nrelationships, career development, and values in general. Thus
\nemployees in this global era should be trained to manage change
\nor, even better, to be an agent of change.<\/p>\n
Hence, field trips to and apprenticeships at different
\nworkplaces should be part of the curricular, especially in
\nvocational schools. Different companies develop their own company
\nculture, and students should be made familiar with those cultures
\nto prepare them to successfully manage organizational change.<\/p>\n
The above guidelines are a translation of the modern approach
\nto career development. Vocational schooling and vocational
\ntraining for graduates need to be redefined in a comprehensive
\nand interdisciplinary way. Various dimensions of life are pieces
\nthat when put together make a whole, and must be taken into
\nconsideration.<\/p>",
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