Collaborative Roles of Industry and Educational institutions in ensuring effective learning

1.1   INTRODUCTION

The National Accreditation Board of Ghana, the authorised government body that gives accreditation to institutions to run various educational programmes indicates that as at 30th March 2014, there are presently 176 educational institutions in Ghana. This is made up of 18 autonomous public/private universities/professional institutions; 1 regional institution – which is owned by the West African countries. The rest are 54 private university colleges; 12 tutorial colleges; 10 polytechnics; 5 distance learning institutions; 11 foreign registered institutions and 2 colleges of agric. There are also 19 private/public nursing colleges and 44 teacher training colleges.

With this huge number of institutions in a country like Ghana, it pre-supposes that every year thousands of graduates will be passing out and looking for job to do. But the question is are these products well fit for the job market, and are they well groomed to take up responsible positions when given the chance? The answer is obviously no!! In a speech delivered by the President of the republic of Ghana (H.E. John Dramani Mahama), he lamented that, the country’s graduates are not well fit for the job market when they come out, and he challenged the educational institutions to find ways of overcoming this problem.

The observation made by the president of our country – Ghana is supported by a recent study by Eraut (2004a) which also indicates that, there is a gap between the knowledge needed at work and the knowledge and skills produced by formal education. Interestingly, this problem of lack of adequate knowledge by graduates of tertiary institutions is not in isolation, the students themselves also indicate they find themselves not adequately prepared for the job market. This was a finding made in two-separate studies on university and polytechnic graduates in Finland who have between 2-10 years work experience. This finding indicates that even these graduates find their working life skills inadequate, in that the knowledge they get from school is not enough to make them work well, rather, they learn the necessary skills at work (Stenstrom, 2006; Tynjala, Slotte, Nieminen, Lonka, & Olkinuora, 2006).

The above discourse is the premise on which this report paper is concentrated on. The rest of this report is going to digest on how work place learning can be enhanced in Ghana in order to make the graduates of our universities and polytechnics workplace worthy. The discussions will be done in the following heading: a) the present state of workplace learning in Ghana, b) challenges of workplace learning and the future directions of workplace learning.

1.2  THE STATE OF WORKPLACE LEARNING IN GHANA

According to Zuboff (1988, p 395) learning is not something that requires time out from productive activity, rather learning is the heart of productive activity. This implies that for learning to be effective, the learning must be complemented with work place experiences, and the learning must not be done in isolation without the workplace exposure. At this point, a look is taken at how industry and educational institutions cooperate in making work and learning somewhat feasible in Ghana.

Among the educational institutions in Ghana, the nursing training schools and the teacher training schools are well arranged for their students to have workplace exposure. This is irrespective of these training institutions being private or public. It must also be noted that those in the universities and offering studies in health related courses – nursing, medicine, laboratory technician etc are also well placed for workplace experience whiles learning or in school, same applies to students studying courses in education. These groups of students are by the nature of their studies required to go for practical exposures in hospitals and schools. We take a look at how the health related students do this, and later how the educational related students also have their exposures.

By the curriculum of the health related students, they undertake regular field experience where they are sent to hospitals and clinics to under-study people who are already in the field. They are also allowed to do practical works and are put on timetable as though they are full time workers. When school is on holiday, they go for full time workplace exposures in the health facilities. These are compulsory work done by these students.

Moreover, the students who are studying the educational related courses in the teacher training colleges and other institutions also do similar field studies like the health related students. But unlike the health related studies students, these crop of students do not go for practical experiences whiles school is in progress, but only when on holidays. Furthermore, in both the health related studies and the educational related studies, these field exposures are compulsory.

The next stage of students who do compulsory workplace internship are those who study in the polytechnics. These students are also required to undertake practical attachments in various workplaces and are expected to work in a field related to what they are studying. These are done at the end of the first and second academic years. In Ghana, when one completes school he or she does national service. Unlike those in the teacher educational or nursing educational training schools, there is no comprehensive enforcement of this practical attachment by the polytechnic authorities.

It is worth noting that, apart from the above crop of students, the others do their practical workplace attachment out of their own willingness. 

Considering the above, it is worth noting that workplace learning can be better enhanced if there is better cooperation between industry and educational institutions, in making workplace learning a success.

1.3  COOPERATION BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN ENSURING EFFECTIVE WORKPLACE LEARNING.

As Anna Sfard (1998) puts it there are two metaphors to learning – acquisition metaphor, which sees learning as a process of knowledge acquisition, and participation metaphor which emphasises learning by participating in social communities. Based on this notion by Sfard, it can be seen that as the knowledge is acquired in the classroom, the knowledge must be applied to make more meaning of what is studied, which calls for the participation metaphor in learning. This shows clearly that, both industry and the educational institutions have a role to play in making work and learning a success. Work and learning cannot be effective without either the educational institution or the industry, but both must work hand-in-hand to make work and learning more effective and with more meaning.

It is also imperative that, as the educational institutions give the training to the students, it behoves on industry also to make room for the students to get exposure in the work place and have exposures on what really transpires in the workplace. By this the workplace becomes an extension of the classroom, whereby the educational institution provides the needed training, and the industry also gives the platform for the students to put to practice what they have learnt in the classroom. This is supported by Ellstrom (2010[vii]) who indicated that there is an attempt to conceptualise the workplace as a learning environment in a broader institutional perspective.

But the question that comes to mind is does the student participation in the workplace for exposure alone make the workplace learning a success? The answer lies with Ellstrom (1997; 2001) who indicated that in the workplace, there are two complementary modes of learning, which is adaptive learning leading to developmental learning. In the adaptive mode of learning, the student is exposed to what entails in the workplace, and is given few challenging jobs to learn from. With this, the learner gains necessary exposures, and reflects on what he or she learns from the classroom, and begins to question the motive behind why certain things are done the way they are done, which leads to developmental learning. It is obvious that, the student worker cannot be bold enough to question what is being done in the workplace if he or she first does not first have full understanding of what is done, and the organisation also does not make the workplace an enabling learning environment, that enables the student worker to question things done.

Another collaborative way industry and educational institutions cooperate in ensuring workplace learning is effective is by ensuring that the students are well motivated and not left idle during their practical work, but given much exposures. Moreover, the educational institution also provides adequate motivation to the company by way of acknowledging their efforts in accepting their students. This is paramount because as the student works, productivity is being enhanced, and the educational institution also benefits by having their training extended to the company, by making their graduates very competitive in the job market.

1.4  CHALLENGES OF WORKPLACE LEARNING IN GHANA AND THE WAY FORWARD

Having looked at the collaborative roles both industry and the educational institutions play in ensuring effective workplace learning, I now analyse the challenges that hinders effective workplace or work and learning in Ghana. I further make suggestion on how best to address these situations.

First and foremost, it is obvious that apart from the teacher educational and the health educational related studies which make workplace learning compulsory, the other educational institutions do not make it compulsory. The polytechnics also make it a requirement for their students to undertake practical trainings. This is a major problem to workplace learning and making these graduates less empowered to be employed. 

It is suggested that if possible the polytechnics must first make is compulsory for the students to undertake workplace attachments, and must carry academic credit hours. This must also be more effectively supervised as is done for the teacher training colleges and the nursing training colleges.

Furthermore, the universities and other educational institutions must also make it a part of their curriculum to undertake regular industrial attachments. This will make their products more industry worthy when they pass out.

The second problem is the unwillingness of the industry to take on students for their study work experience. The reason given by some of these institutions is they don’t see the need to take on these students to undertake these work study jobs.

In addressing this, the government could make it a law that industries must open their offices to student, and they will be entitled to a reward when this is done. Furthermore, these educational institutions can also make it a point to give petty tokens to companies who take on their students or acknowledge them in a national publication. Best of all, they could acknowledge these organisations on their websites.

Thirdly, some students, though willing to undertake these practical training are unable to locate a suitable workplace for the practical exposures. This is mainly a problem because some of the students do not see the need for this practical experience. 

To overcome this problem, if they know it is compulsory and it is in their own personal interest to undertake this workplace practical exposure and it carries credit hours this will be graciously done.

I personally took my leave off my office to undertake practical experience in another company when I was doing my first masters in Information Security. Though it wasn’t compulsory, I find it that it is important I do this practical exposure so that I will be in a better position to understand what I was learning.

Fourthly, some employers do not give enabling environment that enhances workplace learning. For example, some supervisors will give their subordinates more work to break them down once they know they are improving on themselves. This is because at places where promotion and salary enhancement goes with educational qualification, and the supervisor knowing when the person gets better education, he or she will be overtaken turn to frustrate the one trying to improve on himself/herself.

To address this issue, it behooves on the organisation to make a law to enable such people trying to improve on themselves do so happily. Some companies in Ghana, especially the mining companies will gladly sponsor any of their employees who want to further their education. This, in their opinion is important because, no educational knowledge is a waste but is an added advantage to the organisation’s work profile.

Lastly, the government, educational institutions, and employers’ representatives must come together to agree on how best work place jobs can be enhanced and improved. This can be done by all the parties agreeing on modalities that workplace learning should take that will be acceptable to all the parties. Furthermore, it must be noted that, when good graduates are produced, there will be better workplace performance, and productivity will be enhanced, which will go a long way to increase profitability. More profits means more taxes will be paid which will go a long way to have positive impact on the government as well. This certainly means everyone benefits from it.

1.5   CONCLUSION

This report takes a look at the way forward for workplace learning in Ghana. It started with giving brief background about the educational institutions in Ghana. It goes further to talk about the problem of graduates not being well groomed to be well fit into the workplace. It also goes on to talk about the present state of work and learning in Ghana and talks about how the teacher training colleges and nurses training colleges undertake their workplace learning, also how the polytechnic system addresses the issue of workplace learning. The report further goes on to talk about how industry and the educational institutions can cooperate to make workplace learning a success. The report ends with the various challenges facing workplace learning in Ghana and the way forward in addressing these problems.

Raymond Selorm Mamattah.

(This publication was an assignment I presented on 30th March 2014, when I was doing a course called 'Work and Learning' as part of the MA Adult Learning and Global Change programme. I find it worthy and still relevant for consideration.)