A four-year post-secondary education is not the career path for everyone. Many countries have long overlooked the important role Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) plays in the growth of the economy. World Link is sharing the concepts and methods of showing secondary students technical career paths as an option to a four-year university degree. World Link has been working with such groups as the US Embassy Mission – Tbilisi, Georgia, and the Millennium Challenge Account in Georgia to enhance the image of TVET programs and increase enrollments.
The Georgian TVET delegation learned from the State of Iowa that good coordination between the levels of education and with the employers is critical for education to be linked to economic development.
TVET 2018-2019: Gender Equity in TVET Programs
The first exchange program was conducted by World Link in 2018. A group of nine community colleges and technical universities, that received funding from the Millennium Challenge Account – Georgia, were selected to participate in an exchange visit to the U.S. During the exchange, they would discover methods for increasing female enrollments in new TVET programs by ten percent that year. This video highlights the three methods that are being used in the country to increase gender equity in TVET programs.
Results
The first exchange program with TVET colleges resulted in a thirty-seven percent increase in female enrollments in programs that had previous enrollments to compare. This increase was done by using social media advertising and gender role change awareness campaigns. The result was female enrollments in traditionally male occupations and the beginning of the acceptance of female specialists in a wider array for careers. Some TVET programs experienced their first female enrollees in history.
Georgian TVET participants were surprised with a Georgian meal and a special holiday Yule log at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
A summary of the success of the project to improve gender equity in new TVET Programs in Georgia:
TVET 2019-2020: Career Exploration in Secondary Schools
In a follow up to the first successful exchange project with TVET programs in Georgia, the US Embassy funded the project for a second year. The aim was to develop linkages between a chosen secondary school and the TVET Program in Georgia. Using ideas gleaned from an exchange visit in 2019, secondary school principals are developing agreements, activities, and events that showcase TVET careers and education as another choice for secondary school students in Georgia.
Georgian Secondary School Principals visiting a classroom at the Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School in Jamaica, New York.
Cultivatoria
Another project in Georgia is working to improve the image of agriculture with secondary school students in rural areas. World Link, in conjunction with World Link alumni in the country, has rebranded the former project Future Farmers of Georgia (FFG) and have redesigned it as Cultivatoria.
Find out more about this agricultural exploration club in Georgian schools:
