An Analysis of Policy Implementation in the Third World

Marcus Powell

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138608719
• eBook ISBN: 9780429861895
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

First published in 1999, this book analyzes the process involved in implementing Technical and Vocational Education and Training policies in the countries of Jamaica and The Gambia. A critical approach was used to analyse the role played by different actors in this process, both at public and private sector institutions. The study documented a variety of projects and programmes, ranging from those that promoted entrepreneurship or self-employment amongst young people, to those that were more concerned with providing the skills needed for export-led growth. Overall it highlighted the complexities surrounding implementation and of the importance of donor agencies in financing TVET developments in both countries. Furthermore, it also illustrated how the use of foreign technical assistance and components obtained from the developed world, combined with the influence of the physical and political infrastructure, were the major reasons why projects or programmes failed to achieve their stated objectives. The study concludes by suggesting a model which can be used by policy makers to help ensure that programmes or projects are more successful at meeting local labour market needs, rather than those of aid agencies or actors within the state apparatus.

1 Policy implementation

Introduction

This chapter reviews the literature on the subject of policy implementation and that of TVET in the ‘Third World’. It begins by looking at some of the major approaches to interpreting implementation in the developed or ‘First World’. Then, we turn to the major debates surrounding TVET in the Third World, including issues such as what is meant by this term and how TVET systems in different countries have developed. In dealing with the former issue, the chapter discusses the role played by aid agencies in supporting TVET initiatives in the Third World, as well as criticisms of TVET based on cost effectiveness and labour market relevance. Additional consideration is also given to recent studies on policy implementation in the Third World. By adopting such an approach, the chapter is able to provide the reader with an overview of some of the major debates which informed the present study.

Policy implementation in the developed world

Until recently the majority of studies on policy implementation were conducted by researchers in the field of social and public policy. This work appeared to interpret the implementation process in one of three ways. The first of these, referred to in the literature as the top-down approach, assumes that policy makers formulate policies at the central government level, and these subsequently pass down through a government hierarchy, and are implemented by the appropriate agencies. The top-down approach to analysing policy implementation was apparent in Pressmen and Wildaysky’s (1973) study of the United States of America’s federal employment creation plans in Oakwood, California. This piece of work looked at the success of a federal employment creation policy by focusing on the hierarchical structure of the different organisations involved in the implementation process. Pressmen and Wildaysky’s study concluded that problems in implementation are more likely to occur if there are disagreements between the different organisations that implemented the same policy.

Other researchers who take the top-down approach view successful implementation as being dependent on a number of factors, including: the availability of resources, the nature of the policy, and the administrative structure. For example, Hogwood et al (1984) perceives the success of implementation as being influenced by the availability of resources at critical moments during the implementation process. Furthermore, this approach assumes that if a policy is clearly stipulated, including the specific actions needed for its implementation, then it is less likely to experience problems. Hogwood et al (1984) build on the work of Pressmen and Wildaysky (1973) by arguing that if a single administrative structure, rather than multiple structures, is involved in the implementation process, then the policy is more likely to be successfully implemented.

The limitation of the top-down approach is that it is based on technocratic assumptions. In adopting such an approach it assumes that successful implementation is about having the correct procedures and the appropriate organisational structures. If you do not have the former in place then your policy is likely to experience implementation difficulties. By adopting such a narrow perspective, the top-down approach neglects the role that different actors play in the process of policy implementation. However, in contrast to the top-down approach, the bottom-up approach emphasises the importance of actors in the implementation process, particularly those on the ground who are referred to as ‘street level bureaucrats’. One of the seminal pieces of work on this subject was Lipsky’s (1980) study of government officials and civil servants who had direct contact with the public. Within this study, policy analysts are criticised on the grounds that they generalise about policy implementation without explaining the impact or influence of individuals in this process. According to Lipsky, the influence of ‘street level bureaucrats’ stems from their discretion in interpreting policies and from their relative autonomy from hierarchical/supervisory control over their day-to-day actions.

There are clear benefits to the bottom-up approach in that it recognises how individuals, through their collective behaviour, can influence the process involved in implementing a policy. However, on the negative side, this approach can be criticised for emphasising the ‘street level bureaucrat’ at the expense of those who are involved in formulating policy. In response to these limitations the evolutionary approach combines the top-down and bottom-up approaches for analysing implementation. The benefit of this third view is that it recognises implementation as a process of negotiation and interaction between the key decision-makers who formulate policies, and the ‘street level bureaucrats’ who implement them. Furthermore, in contrast to the former two approaches, the evolutionary one recognises that policy making and implementation are not separate, and that policy making is left to those involved in the planning and in the implementation stages (Ham and Hill, 1993).

Although the three different approaches to interpreting implementation provide a useful framework for interpreting policy implementation, and to a consideration of the actors which influence that process, they also have their limitations for the present study. First, and perhaps the most important, these interpretations of the implementation process are based on the findings of studies conducted in the UK or the USA, rather than those in the developing world where the conditions and circumstances are totally different. Indeed, in the Third World institutional structures and policies have been shaped by totally different historical circumstances. For example, the predominance of external influences, such as colonialism, have had a major impact on the type of bureaucracies which exist in many Third World countries. These ‘external influences’, whether through overseas aid or foreign investment, still continue to have an influential role in many Third World countries today. Given these limitations there is a need to look at the literature surrounding TVET and policy implementation in the Third World.

Literature on TVET in the ‘Third World’

Before the chapter looks at any of the debates surrounding TVET in the Third World there is a need to define what exactly we mean by the term TVET. A review of the literature on the subject reveals a large number of acronyms to describe institutional technical and vocational education and training in the Third World, ranging from TVE (technical and vocational education), to VET (vocational education and training) and more recently TVET (technical and vocational education and training) (see: Grey et al, 1993; Middleton and Demsky 1989; World Bank, 1991c). There are also numerous debates over what constitutes TVET or VET. Amongst the many issues discussed in the literature are: what is contained in a TVET programme? What proportion of a particular programme should be devoted to practical work, and what proportion to theoretical studies? What type of institutions are best suited to providing particular forms of TVET? As might be expected, there are numerous answers to these questions and according to Oxtoby (1994) the answers will depend on the developmental needs of an individual country and on its corresponding policy framework.

In an attempt to overcome the complexities associated with defining TVET, Middleton (1988) suggests that TVET can be viewed in terms of three dimensions, including: the mode of delivery, the sector of intended employment and the national level of a country’s development. With regard to the first of these dimensions, this encompasses the provision of TVET in universities (through courses of study in subjects such as engineering and computing), post-secondary technical institutions which provide formalised training in specific technical subjects, secondary schools which have diversified their academic curricula to include practical subjects, secondary technical schools which prepare students for direct entry into the labour market, and non-formal organisations which provide TVET outside the formal educational system, such as apprenticeship schemes offered by Ministries of Labour.

The second dimension, the sector of intended employment, refers to the occupational area in which TVET graduates intend to work and encompasses sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, commerce and the service sector. Whilst the third dimension, the level of a country’s development, provides an indication of the country’s capacity to absorb TVET graduates.

The above taxonomy has clear policy implications for those involved in planning TVET policies in the Third World. However, one limitation of Middleton’s taxonomy is that it neglects the historical circumstances under which TVET systems developed in the Third World, including the influence of colonialism and of International Aid agencies respectively. A second short-coming of this taxonomy is that it fails to consider the political context in which TVET provision occurs. The former has corresponding implications for interpreting the way in which TVET policies are implemented in the Third World.

A number of researchers have looked at the historical development of TVET systems in the Third World and also the influence of colonialism. A brief look at these case studies can help us, in part, to understand some of the constraints and problems facing TVET systems in the Third World to-day. Ishumi (1988) analysed the effect of transferring the English educational system, consisting of an academic stream and a vocational one in parallel, to Third World countries in Africa. The two track system first appeared in Nigeria in 1859, and as in the case of England, the vocational stream was viewed in Africa as comprising a second rate institution for less able students. This attitude towards education was further enforced by the socioeconomic conditions which existed, and still exist in some third world countries. Under these conditions African students developed a preference for studying academic subjects (rather than vocational subjects) because they were more likely to obtain a job, with attractive career prospects, in the country’s formal sector (Godwin, 1990). According to Watson (1973), as a result of encouraging this ‘academic bias’ colonialism, unwittingly, destroyed the cultural norms of pre-colonial societies which had a strong technical and vocational bias.

The influence of external factors was also apparent in the post-colonial period when aid agencies helped finance the development of TVET systems in the Third World (Watson, 1994). This influence has been identified by some as a form of neo-colonialism (Altbach and Kelly, 1984). Indeed, Altbach and Kelly regard educational systems in the Third World as being dominated by International Aid networks, which enable Aid Agencies to determine the type of provision that occurs in such countries. Irizarry (1983) focuses on the influence of International Aid networks on post-secondary technical educational systems in the Third World; and in doing so argues that owing to their dependency on First World educational materials, educational institutions in the Third World, are unable to engage in research activities that would be appropriate to their own development needs.

The influence of International Aid agencies was apparent in Kenya where the ILO was instrumental in vocationalising the country’s education system (Sifuna, 1992). However, the greatest influence of International Aid agencies, on the development of TVET systems in the Third World, has come from the World Bank. Indeed, Technical and Vocational Education and Training was at the cornerstone of the World Bank’s lending during the 1970s and 1980s, and 40 per cent of the Bank’s lending for education during this period went on TVET, with 80 per cent of this supporting pre-employment training (World Bank, 199lb).

The decision to introduce vocational subjects into an institution in the Third World, whether by a host government or a donor agency, took many forms. In some countries there was an attempt to introduce universal vocationalisation - that is to say vocational subjects were incorporated into the curriculum at all stages of the educational spectrum. For example, when the government in Tanzania was pursuing a development policy based on the concept of ‘Education for Self Reliance’ attempts were made to introduce vocational subjects, such as agricultural and basic crafts, into the primary school curriculum. Under this policy it was anticipated that school children would be able to apply their practical skills in the model farms which had been established under ‘Education for Self Reliance’ (Ishumi, 1988). Also under Tanzania’s extensive vocationalisation programme the curriculum within secondary schools underwent extensive diversification, with students spending an estimated 40 cent of their time studying vocational subjects.

In contrast to Tanzania, the government in neighbouring Kenya, with the support of various funding agencies, introduced a milder form of vocationalisation in the late 1980s called the 8-4-4 education system. This comprised of 8 years of primary schooling in which agricultural and craft subjects became compulsory in the school curriculum, 4 years of secondary and a further 4 years of post-secondary education. Under this approach emphasis was given towards pre-vocational subjects at the primary level and technical subjects at the post-primary level. A large number of the schools at the secondary level, called the Harambee Institutes of Technology, were private institutions owned by the community (Esemon et al, 1988). The responsibility for curriculum development within the former rested with the Ministry of Technical Training and Applied Technology. However, although the Ministry paid teachers’ salaries it only contributed towards part of the schools recurrent operating costs - the remainder having to be financed by the communities themselves.

In other parts of the world, VET systems have been shaped by their own unique historical circumstances. However, in Latin America it is possible to speak of a generic approach, or as it is referred to in the literature as the ‘Latin American Model’. Although, the ‘Latin American Model’ originated in Brazil in the late 1940s, the Brazilians borrowed the approach from Germany and Austria. Thus, the Brazilian National Industrial Learning Service, SENAI, resembles in some aspects BBIB in Germany. For example, SENAI uses an industrial levy-type system to finance the provision of the country’s vocational training system. This system consists of pre-service training for 14 to 18 year old apprentices which is delivered in SENAI vocational schools. These schools are also responsible for providing training to technicians at the post-secondary level and those employees who need skill-upgrading or retraining. The curricula within the SENAI schools is based on task analysis. Thus, rather than focus on the technical knowledge and procedures associated with doing a job, it is more concerned with the information and actions required to perform a job (Wilson, 1993). The relative success of this approach can be judged by the fact that the SENAI approach, is now operational in 19 other countries in Latin America and two in the Caribbean.

The countries discussed above will have numerous reasons or justifications for investing in TVET, although the most well known of these has its roots in human capital theory. Put simply, this assumes that a better trained workforce would be more productive, and that this in turn would contribute towards a country’s economic development (Blaug, 1985). However, the simple causality between investment in training and economic development is not without its critics (see Ashton and Green, 1996). Other well known reasons for investing in TVET include: increasing the relevance of schooling to occupational futures and easing the transition from school to work.

Besides economic justifications for investing in TVET there are also political reasons. Within Tanzania, for example, vocationalisation had ideological goals in that it attempted to re-orientate attitudes away from academic book learning and more towards vocational skills which could benefit the wider community. Furthermore, the provision of TVET, can be viewed in many Third World countries as a response to the harsh labour conditions in which school leavers and graduates are unable to find paid employment. The political motives for vocationalising schools were particularly apparent in the Third World during the 1970s, when vocationalisation was seen as a response to the rising incidence of unemployment amongst school leavers (Bacchis, 1988). Even more recently, the vocationalisation of the curriculum was also being used during the 1980s and 1990s, by governments in the First and Third Worlds, as a response to the continual problem arising of unemployment amongst school leavers (Lauglo and Lillis, 1988). Although, in contrast to the 1960s and 1970s, the emphasis was on encouraging school leavers to become entrepreneurs by incorporating entrepreneurial development skills in to the curriculum (Godwin, 1990). However, by using the curriculum as a response to the problem of rising unemployment, the state is only responding to the aspirations of those who are leaving the education system, rather than meeting specific skills shortages in the economy; and at the same time, the state is placing sole responsibility on the school leaver to find paid employment.

Within the Third World there are also debates about what constitutes entrepreneurship training and what form it should take. For example, should entrepreneurial programmes be concerned with training TVET graduates so that they can establish their own businesses? Alternatively, should such programmes focus upon attitudinal developments, thereby encouraging TVET graduates to work for small enterprises in the informal sector? The point remains that the content of an entrepreneurship programme depends on its objectives. If, for example, a programme is designed to encourage graduates to become self-employed, then it will need to provide support services, such as finance and advice to ease the transition from school to productive employment (Godwin, 1990). The cost of providing such additional support services for TVET graduates is high; some academics have argued that governments should be more concerned with providing suitable economic conditions for entrepreneurial development, than with ‘wasting resources’ on entrepreneurial development programmes (Marsden, 1990); the assumption being that entrepreneurs are born and not made.

Despite economic and political justifications for vocationalising the curricula in the Third World, it has been subject to much criticism from both academics and international funding agencies. The apparent mismatch between the technical manpower a country’s TVET system produces, and what is actually needed, has led to a variety of criticisms. According to Psacharopoulos (1991b) the matching of supply to demand in education is a utopia which will never be achieved owing to the distorted nature of labour markets in the Third World. The major distortions include a sizeable public sector and a rigid labour market (with fixed wage rates), all of which prevent a downward movement of wages if there is an excess supply of trained personnel. The demand for trained personnel in the Third World is also unpredictable due to factors such as advances in technology and emigration. In order to mitigate this mismatching, and thereby reduce the problem of the ‘trained unemployed’, Psacharapoulos (1991a) suggests a number of measures which include: the relaxation of minimum wage laws, the abolition of manpower forecasting and the introduction of student fees to enable post-secondary TVET institutions to recover some of their recurrent costs.

Criticisms have also been levelled at the education and training of TVET staff. In order to deliver TVET programmes, lecturers/instructors need to receive continuous training and development. This is particularly so with the introduction of new subjects such as entrepreneurship. Formerly, a high proportion of training for TVET lecturers who work in the Third World was undertaken in institutions overseas, through aid-funded scholarships. Gray (1993) has questioned the effectiveness of such overseas training because on completing their courses, and returning to their home countries, TVET lecturers are normally promoted to positions where they can no longer use their technical skills. Furthermore, there is the issue of the efficient use of resources, since in-house training can be provided in organisations in the Third World at a fraction of the costs of overseas scholarships (Baker et al, 1984).

However, the World Bank argues that given the rapid pace of technological change, Third World countries are better able to expand their cognitive and theoretical knowledge base through investing resources in primary and secondary general education. This they argue is a more cost effective means of developing a labour force that can enter traditional craft type occupations, as well as those in the modern dynamic modern sector. The World Bank also criticises governments who attempt to vocationalise their primary and secondary school curricula, arguing that the rate of return from vocationalising the curriculum is ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures and tables
• List of abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Policy implementation
• 2 Methodology
• 3 An outline of the Jamaican TVET system
• 4 An analysis of the implementation process in Jamaica
• 5 An outline of The Gambian TVET system
• 6 An analysis of the implementation process in The Gambia
• 7 Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index