Namibia: repositioning vocational education and training

Abstract

The second decade of Namibian independence has seen an increasing return to debates about the national development strategy. There is an apparently growing consensus that Namibia must diversify from its economic dependence on resource-based strategies. This has led to a growing focus on manufacturing, on international competitiveness; and even on developing elements of a 'knowledge-based economy' (Bonelli & Odada 2003; Johanson & Kukler 2003). It is evident that vocational education and training (VET) reform will be part of any such repositioning. Indeed, since 2000 there have been a number of reviews and reports recommending a radical reshaping of VET (see, for example, EU-MHETEC 2001; Brewster & Burke 2002; Resolve SkillsWorks 2002; Johanson & Kukler 2003), and elements of a new policy are in development. It is these attempts at repositioning Namibian VET that this chapter will seek to analyse.