Caracterización de los sujetos en el ensamble

express their views on this training dilemma.

Certificate IV in Training and Assessment53 and its impact  

The majority (20 out of 34) respondents to this study were trainers, managers or participants in the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (Certificate IV TAA), and they provided some thoughtful insights into the conduct of this training. Funded by bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors in collaboration with Australian, International and local training providers, they were alumni of this training course in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

The introduction of the Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment54 provided the Timorese with some of the necessary skills to make the training room more ‘participatory and engaging’ for Timorese learners. This involved a clear movement away from past practices, and it appeared that an approach to learning that respondents valued and appreciated, had begun. This trainer explained his experience of the course as, ‘The good way is to let the students think by themselves, you just give, and let the people select and choose which ones they want to learn’.

However, according to this Indonesian senior government official, the Indonesian school system was not responding to the needs of the ‘world of work’. He noted that, ‘It's a quite wide gap between the ‘schools’ and the ‘world of work’ so there must be a transition here; a bridge, that is what we call training’. He was emphasizing the important role of training in bridging the gap between ‘school’ and ‘work’. The bridge required ‘form and structure’, and this was the contribution of the Certificate IV TAA according to him and, indeed, many other respondents. The course was designed to encourage the application of skills, modeled in the training room, to be employed in respective workplaces. Certificate IV TAA emphasized workplace learning and designing training relative to workplace competencies.

53  _{The  Certificate  IV  in  Training  and  Assessment  followed  on  from  earlier  versions  of  the  Certificate  IV  in  Assessment  and}  

Workplace  Training  

Carolan (2005) conducted a study of one of these Certificate IV TAA courses delivered in 2005 in Timor-Leste, and she reported that many interviewees commented favourably on this course because it (a) developed practical skills based activities related to work environment, (b) provided learner centered methods, tasks and learning outcomes tailored to the individual needs, (c) provided skills to pass onto others in their respective workplaces, and (d) provided mentoring and contextualization of training materials (Carolan, 2005). These views were, in the main, echoed by the Timorese respondents. Many of these participants reported that experience with the participatory and learner-centred methodologies showed them that this was the most effective way for people to learn, as described here by the training manager responsible for implementing the course in Timor-Leste:

The result of the training if we use this style of learner-centred and adult principles it's more effective… from the participant’s point of view, there are a lot of activities, which can be done by them, not by facilitator, and it's good for their workplace.

Many participants were surprised to discover that, as trainee students in the course, their ideas and opinions were valued, and they were encouraged to share them. The participants had never experienced this ‘learner-centred’ approach in their previous schooling, where students had to ‘sit and listen’ ‘duduk, dengar’ (Carolan, 2005, p. 5). In this latter context, teachers had all the knowledge, and in stark contrast to this philosophy, the new engaging approach which the Timorese trainers were trying to achieve was very different when they said ‘…we designed the training to be very participative’. The Certificate IV TAA, had a considerable impact in both Indonesia and Timor-Leste in significant, but different ways. In Indonesia, the adult learning principles were promoted and encouraged across current and previous DFAT programs55 without a detailed examination of the impost of these ‘values’ in this cultural context. The introduction of the Certificate IV TAA, with its Australian content packaged and designed for Australian workplaces, was

transposed into an Indonesian context highlighting the dilemmas involved in policy borrowings of this manner (Malloch, 2005).

In Timor-Leste, a number of Certificate IV TAA programs have been conducted, and the course has been customized to Timor-Leste training conditions, and is now accredited by Timor-Leste’s own national accreditation body (INDMO)56. The course provided some direction in ‘facilitating learning’ and developing skills for trainers to assess ‘competencies in the workplace’. The study respondents valued these training approaches highly enough to recommend them to be introduced into the teacher training programs within the Ministry of Education, as suggested by this trainer; ‘even teachers in primary system, we can combine this with teacher competency this system we use we can also apply that.’ Timor-Leste continues to grapple with the needs to significantly improve the ‘teacher’ facilitation skills in the classrooms across the primary, secondary and vocational education sector. The Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, may prove to be an appropriate training response for meeting this professional development requirement for teachers in Timor- Leste, even with the caveat that it may require some caution.

Learning by doing-providing opportunities for change  

Respondents commented on the ‘learning by doing’ approaches of donor programs, many indicating that ‘learn by doing’ was a desirable training approach. Jones (2006) argues that this approach to learning was successful when we ‘do’ or perform the task then we truly ‘know’ the task and many western cultures apply this practice (N. Jones, 2006, p. 2). A Timorese trainer described the approach as, ‘I do, you do, then we do it together, then you can do it too’. Equally, this approach carries with it the potential to learn ‘flawed’ practices, and can therefore perpetuate mistakes. Nevertheless, individuals who are not given the ‘opportunity’ to learn by doing (and inevitably make mistakes in the course of doing so) will have their learning restricted, and therefore the best intentions of skills development will not be realized (Quisumbing & Apnieve, 2005). Many individuals will return to the

‘dependence’ and reliance on others, denying them opportunities to advance their individual and/or corporate learning. One Timorese donor program administrator applauded the actions of her international advisor for ‘encouraging them to make their own management decisions’, whilst, at the same time, she acknowledged that this was a rare trait amongst many other international advisors.

Opportunities exist with international donor assistance programs to ‘explore’ and ‘examine’ western models of vocational training and workplace learning relevant to the local circumstances. The respondents indicated that ‘selecting’ an offering from abroad had to coincide with their country’s development circumstances, drawing analogies from a child’s growth, ‘from the cradle to walking to running’. This senior trainer suggested that the ‘learning’ offered from abroad needs to match the development circumstances that are present in Indonesia, saying 'we are in the right level where we can do partnerships with [countries of] the same level like Korea and Thailand.’ Sharing developmental experiences, with countries at similar development stages, had some resonance for respondents. Therefore, selecting the most relevant and culturally appropriate vocational training system was a critical choice required of Indonesian policy makers, as noted here by this senior Indonesian government official with forty years’ experience examining training interventions:

We can learn from TAFE Institutes, we can look at what is good, even though it is good in Australia but maybe it's not good to our culture, to our conditions in Indonesia. So it depends on Indonesia to select what would be most applicable.

As this official described, there are many Australian training approaches that work well in Australia, however the task for Indonesia was to select wisely for the circumstances of Indonesia, and not just accept the wholesale import of foreign, in this case Australian, approach.

Timor-Leste’s developmental circumstances were unique for a post-conflict country under transition. Post the Indonesian withdrawal, an educational management vacuum existed in the newly independent state of Timor-Leste,

and this the vacuum included approaches to skills development and skills transfer. This became manifest in problems such as: (a) Timorese were not provided with sufficient opportunities to make decisions, they had a lack of background in management, and lacked opportunities primarily because during Indonesian occupation managerial skills were denied (Kingsbury & Leach, 2007, p. 227), (b) International advisors viewed getting the ‘job done’ as their primary responsibility, and were not interested in wasting time building local capacity, illustrated by this senior government official’s comment, ‘It’s not in the interests of international advisors to make themselves redundant, so why should they teach or leave anything behind’, (c) International advisors were not skilled in the area of transferring ‘knowledge and skills’ to others. Advisors may have technical expertise however unless they have good communication skills, transferring those skills remained problematic, noted in this training manager’s comments, ‘they don't care about you they hurry you up in the work, they leave the counterpart without learning’ and finally (d) A ‘cultural’ issue around ‘deference to authority’ was widely prevalent in Timorese institutions.

Timorese respondents commented that making mistakes was generally ‘frowned upon’, therefore acquiescing to a higher authority absolves them of taking on that responsibility, resulting in restricted opportunities to learn and develop skills. The tendency for Timorese to ‘defer’ to a more senior person in their institution for a ‘decision’, also takes place at the highest of levels of government. The author observed many examples of this ‘deference’ to a higher authority, the starkest example being when the Minister for Education was taking telephone calls explaining why the Ministry of Education didn’t have paper for students attending nationally organised examinations57. This is attention to miniscule administrative detail that, in most countries, was usually the domain of a lowly ranked bureaucrat or ministry staffer, not a Minister of Government.

Working within the Ministry of Education, the author witnessed many situations where Timorese counterparts advised the author to ‘seek’ ministerial approval for the simplest of decisions. Whilst this may have been the ‘preferred’ and ‘general’ practice for most Timorese, this level of micro- management was a source of annoyance for at least one Timorese senior government official respondent. This respondent, who had studied and worked in New Zealand, took a contrasting point of view to his Timorese colleagues, illustrated by the time he questioned ‘Why’ the Minister and the management team needed to be so involved in the ‘day-to-day’ operations of his portfolio-the human resource directorate.

Hill (2007), writing in East Timor-Beyond Independence, suggests that Timorese were never skilled at management, or decision-making, and that this was the legacy of the Indonesian educational experience for the Timorese during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation. Indonesia brought in their own people to occupy managerial positions, and this was the case in the education sector (Kingsbury & Leach, 2007, p. 226). The lack of Timorese skills in managing the key institutions of finance and budgeting, education and health during the initial UNTAET period was palpable (Tansey, 2014, p. 179). Initially under UNTAET, the advisors main interest or concern was to get the ‘job’ done, the corollary of which was ‘to leave nothing behind, learning or resources’ as previously noted.

The UNTAET state building of Timor-Leste, as some respondents described, was yet another layer of lost opportunities for Timorese to gain the necessary management skills. The United Nations, as the leading proponent of ‘governance’ and ‘development’ would have had measures in place to ensure ‘opportunities’ for Timorese to develop these much needed management skills. That would have been the expectation, but as one donor program administrator observed, the UN had employed international volunteers from the non-government sector without applying a ‘selection’ process based upon their own predetermined criteria. It was observed that, ‘the UN had a process and a selection…it should be more transparent they should weigh more criteria it should be clear’. Where it was possible to give an opportunity to a

Timorese to perform an advisor role, this should have occurred, according to this donor program administrator:

If we can fill a gap by using Timorese as development staff, then we don’t need to have international advisors.

The unique development circumstances of Timor-Leste were to get the country ‘up and running’, therefore the UN advisors were positioned in the key ministries of health, education and finance. As previously noted, the lack of engagement became a source of disquiet with some Timorese respondents, who felt that ‘locals’ with the skills were overlooked. The international advisors were challenged on their ability to ‘work with’, ‘alongside’, and ‘communicate with’ their Timorese counterparts, as this donor program administrator explains, ‘So the international advisor has to work out how to transfer their work skills to the local people’.

Whilst the most common issue identified by the Timorese were the ‘language barriers’, some Timorese described the ‘attitude’ of some advisors as ‘condescending’, ‘arrogant’ and just plain ‘naughty’ while others were simply unaware of who their opposite numbers were. One senior government official explained, ‘in some instances the Timorese didn't even know who their counterparts were’.

The Timor-Leste Skills dilemma

The skills development dilemma refers to the challenges faced by the Timorese to design and respond to the human resource development needs of their country, and involves identifying, and planning for, training interventions that meet their particular development needs. This study examined the contributions of donors and contractors in the development of vocational education and training. A World Bank report on The role of Youth Skills Development in the transition to Work: A global review expressed the view that:

‘without the employability skills young people won’t get employment, and schools are not preparing young people for the world of work’ (Adams, 2007).

The employability skills required by young people in Timor-Leste would require an understanding of: (a) What knowledge of skills, and vocational occupations, are required? How will this knowledge be produced, understood and valued? (b) What are the relationships that exist within different occupational divisions of labour? (c) What are the relationships between the ‘structure and content’ of existing and planned human resource development provision and the links to labour market? and (d) What contribution will donors have in the skills development in a Timor-Leste context?

The direction for skills development requires an understanding of the unique Timorese circumstances. Timor-Leste has a very young population, where approximately 53% of the population was below the age of 19 (RDTL, 2011b). Every year, and over the next twenty years, a disproportionately higher number of young people will be looking for work, relative to a small labour force and a limited capacity to expand (RDTL, 2011b, p. 40). Many of the new entrants to the labour market, variously estimated at between 15,000-20,000, (Mats & Fredrik, 2013, p. 5; Wheelahan, 2009, p. 7) will not find employment in the private sector. The youth unemployment rate is already at 43%, and this was compounded by the fact that there was a very high general under- employment rate (Das & O'Keefe, 2007; Mats & Fredrik, 2013). There were only 400 to 500 private sector jobs produced annually in Timor-Leste (Joseph & Hamaguchi, 2014; RDTL, 2011a), which was hardly enough to cover the annual number of new entrants into the labour market.

Timor-Leste would benefit from a dialogue and discussion around the nature, type and extent of the ‘employability skills’ required. Such a discussion would include confronting the issue of what constitutes a ‘livelihood’, and how Timorese may view this conception from their perspective. It was commented that ‘Parents should be successful if they see that all their kids can survive can make a living for their own’58. There was a widely held view in Timor- Leste that ‘parents’ saw a university education as being a success, these parents just wanted their children to be ‘university’ educated. Making a living

of their own and learning vocational skills was apparently less desirable, and according to a Timorese respondent, ‘We have to change this (attitude) in their life’.

The lack of employment opportunities, limited access to higher education, and limited skills for the job market, was a very real concern for young Timorese. In many countries there exists a training system, which formally develops the vocational skills of the population to prepare them for meaningful employment. In Timor-Leste there was no structured vocational educational and training system (Maglen, 2008, p. 1). The Government of Timor-Leste (RDTL, 2011a) recognizes and acknowledges that this was a major human resource issue:

Education and training are the keys to improving the life opportunities of our people and enabling them to reach their full potential (2011a, p. 14).

The market, the state and civil society are the ‘drivers’ of skills development in Timor-Leste, and according to a training manager the government of Timor- Leste, these areas have a responsibility to meet the expectations of these divergent groups. His view was that they were not being realized:

The government is not providing the people with the (agricultural) training, and the same with rice, corn, coconuts and bananas sectors. This is a big sector, fishing, and many people concentrated in it, they (government) think of the industry, but they don’t think of the specific culture, Timor culture.

This represents a thoughtful and reflective comment on the ‘training’ needs required in the newly independent Timor-Leste, as well as a heartfelt ‘plea’ to focus attention upon the uniqueness of this specific culture, and not the ‘market driven’ and ‘industry needs’ that do not exist. He argued that Timor’s culture was a ‘farming and fishing culture’ and training people to be efficient in these sectors would considerably improve Timorese livelihoods. This respondent challenged these immediate short-term needs of employers, and their narrowly defined market focus of skill requirements. Another training manager supported this view stating that the training focus should be away from industry and based locally:

We try to use sophisticated training models like we use computers and target those in industry, but the fact is many villages they wanted training in local conditions.

Getting the ‘industry’ versus ‘agricultural’ skills development mix correct was