Industrial Attachments for Instructors in TVET Delivery

Scholars, learners and employers across the globe agree that the workplace is the most authentic learning environment to train a competent workforce. The workplace provides a context for learners to transform and construct vocationally and socially meaningful knowledge and skills. Training providers and industries, through employers, form partnerships to offer situated learning opportunities in the workplace so that learners have access to authentic experiences that only the workplace can offer. Industry attachments have long been accepted as a core component of training for trainees and are well structured and coordinated. Although industry attachment for teachers and trainers is equally important, it has not received parallel attention, coherence or coordination at the policy or organisational levels. This chapter begins with an overview of training arrangements for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) practitioners followed by a discussion on the significance of industrial attachment for them. Brief descriptions of industrial attachment models for TVET practitioners in selected countries are presented. Key issues are drawn from an analysis of these models. The chapter concludes with considerations for planning and arranging industrial attachment to update or maintain TVET practitioners' currency of industry changes, knowledge and skills.