SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS & BASELINE STUDY ZAMBIA

Prepared for: Commonwealth of Learning

Prepared by: Ed Du Vivier

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS & BASELINE STUDY

of

Open, Distance & Flexible Learning in the

Technical Education, Vocational & Entrepreneurship Training Sector

in

ZAMBIA

Technical Education, Vocational & Entrepreneurship Training Sector

in

ZAMBIA

Last Revised: 8th January 2016

12th July 2015

Commonwealth of Learning, 2016

Any part of this document may be reproduced without permission, but with attribution to

the Commonwealth of Learning and the author.

CC-BY-SA (share alike with attribution)

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

If you have any queries about this report, please contact:

Dr Alison Mead Richardson

Education Specialist: Technical and Vocational Skills Development

Commonwealth of Learning

4710 Kingsway, Suite 2500

Burnaby, BC V5H 4M2

CANADA

Tel: +1.604.775.8200

Fax: +1.604.775.8210

ameadrichardson@col.org

Situational Analysis & Baseline Study

Page i

Acronyms & Abbreviations used in this Document

BEAR Better Education for Africas Rise Project, coordinated by UNESCO

BSE Basic Skills Education (see Sub-section 2.7)

COL Commonwealth of Learning

DfID Department for International Development, Government of the United Kingdom

DVET Department of Vocational Education & Training in Ministry of Higher Education

GRZ Government of the Republic of Zambia

ICT(s) Information and Communication Technology(-ies)

MESVTEE Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (between

2011 and September 2015), Government of the Republic of Zambia

MHE Ministry of Higher Education (since September 2015), GRZ

MOGE Ministry of General Education (since September 2015), GRZ

MoF Ministry of Finance, GRZ

MIS Management Information System

MSME(s) Micro-, Small and Medium Enterprise(s)

NER Net Enrolment Rate

ODFL Open, Distance and Flexible Learning (see Glossary for definitions of terms)

ODL Open and Distance Learning (see Glossary)

OERs Open Educational Resources (see Glossary)

PPP USD Purchasing Power Parity United States Dollars

RPL Recognition of Prior Learning (see Glossary of Terms)

SADC Southern African Development Community

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines/subjects

T&L Teaching and Learning

TDP TEVETA Development Support Programme, financed by the World Bank between

2002 and 2009

TEVET Technical Education, Vocational & Entrepreneurship Training (the preferred term for

this sub-sector in Zambia)

TEVETA Technical Education, Vocational & Entrepreneurship Training Authority

TTI Technical Training Institute

TVET Technical and Vocational Education & Training

TVTC Technical and Vocational Teachers College, Luanshya, Zambia

ZIBSIP Zambian Institute of Business Studies and Industrial Practice, Kitwe, Zambia

ZQA Zambia Qualifications Authority

ZQF Zambia (National) Qualifications Framework

ODFL in the TEVET Sector in Zambia

Page ii

Executive Summary

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental agency, established by the

Commonwealth Heads of Government to promote the development and sharing of innovative

approaches to the provision of learning for sustainable development. Since 1989, COL has been

carrying out research, organising capacity-building activities, experimenting with new

technologies and producing resources to support programmes of Open, Distance and Flexible

Learning (ODFL) in member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. In its Strategic

Development Plan for the period 2015-2022, COL is targeting support for extending the use of

ODFL approaches for skills development in Zambia.

Overview of Sub-Sector

Zambia is a middle-income country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of 13.1 million

(2010) and a GDP per capita of less than USD 4,000 (current PPP). Responsibility for the

education and training sector has been assigned to two ministries. The Ministry of Basic

Education manages systems for early childhood care and development (ECCD), as well as

school-based education up to the completion of Grade 12. Post-secondary education and

training is overseen by the Ministry of Higher Education (MHE), with a Directorate of

Vocational Education and Training that administers funding for approximately twenty-five

semi-autonomous training institutions. The Technical Education, Vocational and

Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) was established by legislation as the national

body for setting standards, accrediting and regulating the activities of training providers in both

the public and private sectors.

COL is working with these local partners MHE and TEVETA to plan and deliver a series of

initiatives to build capacity at government institutions that plan to develop ODFL alternatives

to conventional face-to-face training. As of mid-2015, two of these training institutions had

been accepted as members of Innovation in Vocational Education & Skills Training (INVEST

Africa), a partnership between COL and the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in

Africa. This document was prepared to assess the current situation with regard to the use of

ODFL by publicly-funded training institutions in Zambia, as well as to establish baseline

indicators for monitoring and evaluating the planned initiatives.

Institution-based training is one of the main avenues for Zambians to acquire recognised

qualifications in various trades and technical professions. Fewer than three hundred training

providers have been accredited by TEVETA, and about a third of these are public institutions

supported by different ministries, including MHE. Training providers are allowed to develop

their own short courses, but the curricula for formal programmes must be accredited at national

level by TEVETA to ensure standardisation in line with Zambias National Qualifications

Framework. Each training provider is responsible for employing its own staff complement.

Instructors are obliged to submit to accreditation by TEVETA, but concern has been expressed

about the quality of instruction available at many centres. Approximately 35,000 students were

enrolled for institution-based training in 2012, and the system produced roughly 8,000

graduates in the same year.

Situational Analysis & Baseline Study

Page iii

Public training institutions are financed primarily through direct subventions from the

Government of Zambia (GRZ), student fees, government bursaries and the sale of goods and

services produced during the course of training. In addition to these sources of funding, there

have been a number of donor-assisted initiatives for the sector in recent years. These include

the Support to Science & Technology Education Project funded by the African Development Bank,

the UK Department for International Developments Skills Improvement Programme, funding

from the Chinese Government for upgrading the skills of instructors and re-equipping GRZ

training providers, and several smaller projects.

School-based training (also referred to as the two-tier system) is another important pathway

for young people to acquire TEVET skills. The pilot phase of the Flexible Education and

Training programme (FLET) began in 2014. Based on the German model, the two-tier system

places equal emphasis on academic and basic skills education. The target is to enrol half of the

adolescents who have been pushed out of formal schools due to the lack of sufficient places. As

of May 2015, the two-tier system was being implemented by four training institutional hubs,

linked to twenty technical secondary schools and ten schools for continuing education.

The informal sector is a major component of Zambias economy and labour force. Because of

the importance of the informal economy, the Sixth National Development Plan includes a strategy

to integrate modules on entrepreneurship and developing micro-, small and medium

enterprises (MSMEs) in all FLET and TEVET programmes. In addition, the development of

such skills are viewed as central to addressing the problem of unemployment, particularly

among young people. To date, however, only two of the twenty-four public training

institutions under MHE have designed and delivered short courses for workers in the informal

economy. An unknown number of Youth Resource Centres under the Ministry of Youth and

Sport offer TEVETA-accredited training in basic skills. This training is intended to enable

unemployed youth to generate a livelihood in the informal economy.

Baseline Survey

An online survey was conducted between mid-June and early October 2015 to assess the

readiness of the MHE training institutions in Zambia to adopt and/or expand their use of open,

distance and flexible learning approaches for the provision of TEVET. The aim of thi