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mistaking degrees for competency is too common.. the concept of a degree has been devalued.. I believe that in future that companies will have their own competency qualification....I have questioned the value of MBA's too often to be competent to run a company....and for that matter a buisness degree ...
Degree or profession, which is best for you?
Franklin JOHNSTON
Friday, July 05, 2013
ONCE upon a time degrees were the thing. They now have competition from professions and other competency-based qualifications (CBQ). The paradigm is shifting, especially at the professional level, so it matters what you can do, less so what papers you have. Many degrees add little value as employers are interested in practice-doing. A competency-based schema avoids the degree conundrum of being qualified for nothing in particular.
The early UWI benefitted from a pool of good students -- rich and poor -- and created the Caribbean cognoscenti. Students came well educated for a degree. There was no Use of English or remedial course. UWI had an African and Indian cachet reflecting the masses of Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica and bearing the hopes of the family. Their graduates with degrees in Latin and English ran factories. No MBA, but they managed well. Brilliant left-wingers got jobs with trade unions; most went to teaching, professions, government and the private sector. The degree was icing on the cake.
Their success in jobs fuelled demand for degrees: the caveat? Few outside knew their success did not subsist in the degree, but in good schooling, thinking skills, English and self-study. Marketing, sales, management know-how was gleaned from books and tapes (a pre-iPod device). The erroneous unctuous respect for degrees still fuels the rush, but schooling is still the key. Should we favour degrees? is there a case for CBQs? Here is a pickle.
Two areas most important to national prosperity --agriculture and education -- have underachieved. We do not feed ourselves; we have high achievers, but 70-plus per cent cannot access HEART because of illiteracy. It's important to national prosperity that these two avocations become professions in law. Degrees are the hallmark of academics. We need these two.
The market has choice but the choices suck. What career do I want? Will a degree do it? Should I go CBQ; say TVET or step to a profession? A Certificate or Diploma from the competent authority empowers a teacher. A normal degree is not a teaching qualification. Teacher training is competency based, so a teacher with a BA is not more expert than one with a diploma. Does a teacher with BA produce say 40% better exam results than a diploma teacher? Does a MA teacher get 60% more passes? No! The 21st century teacher needs a set professional title not a diploma. Teaching suffers by degrees which do not reflect competence in teaching. Teaching needs uplifting subscripts to mark the profession and lock into the global equivalent.
The farmer with a BA or other degree is much like this teacher. A PhD in agriculture is not competency based and is no guarantee of better farming than the Farm School Certificate. Yes, people look at you with a degree, but the employer rates you by your output. The qualification, registration and citation of a professional in the practice of farming is long overdue; separate dilettantes from professionals and move. Let's do it now!
The body of knowledge in a profession is always in flux around its core and CPD (Continuing or better, Compulsory Professional Development) is a key element of improvement. Here is some of our reality.
Few successful farmers are agriculturists. The most burnished champion farmer is a surveyor. What?!
We hear the UWI is looking at a professional farmer qualification with a title and the Agricultre Ministry should get on board. Heroes Circle is moving teaching in this direction too. Life is short, get going!
The ACCA of the Accountant is only attained by one route but degrees in areas at the BA, MA or PhD level may qualify for exemptions and international treaties apply. This applies to a legal, engineer's or doctor's registration. It should apply to professions of farming and teaching so people can't just walk in without matching transcripts of degrees to our requirements for practice.
A professional farmer has production as his forte and is the key to food sufficiency. The CEO of one firm said "a MA or PhD in agriculture tells me nothing. I need someone to make our farms produce to the max. I need a farming doctor, men who qualify to do, can do and do do". Farmers and teachers are not academics, they are practitioners. A lawyer with a PhD is not paid more for this title and does not get a QC for it. Academic titles are the currency of a campus, your professional "can do" title is what counts outside.
Professional qualification is not an academic degree, it is praxis: more skilled, better results, greater reward, public acclaim! It's your life. Choose wisely, degree or profession? Stay conscious, my friend!
Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist and project manager and advisor to the minister of education. [email protected]
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz2YAWTJ6fK
Degree or profession, which is best for you?
Franklin JOHNSTON
Friday, July 05, 2013ONCE upon a time degrees were the thing. They now have competition from professions and other competency-based qualifications (CBQ). The paradigm is shifting, especially at the professional level, so it matters what you can do, less so what papers you have. Many degrees add little value as employers are interested in practice-doing. A competency-based schema avoids the degree conundrum of being qualified for nothing in particular.
The early UWI benefitted from a pool of good students -- rich and poor -- and created the Caribbean cognoscenti. Students came well educated for a degree. There was no Use of English or remedial course. UWI had an African and Indian cachet reflecting the masses of Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica and bearing the hopes of the family. Their graduates with degrees in Latin and English ran factories. No MBA, but they managed well. Brilliant left-wingers got jobs with trade unions; most went to teaching, professions, government and the private sector. The degree was icing on the cake.
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Two areas most important to national prosperity --agriculture and education -- have underachieved. We do not feed ourselves; we have high achievers, but 70-plus per cent cannot access HEART because of illiteracy. It's important to national prosperity that these two avocations become professions in law. Degrees are the hallmark of academics. We need these two.
The market has choice but the choices suck. What career do I want? Will a degree do it? Should I go CBQ; say TVET or step to a profession? A Certificate or Diploma from the competent authority empowers a teacher. A normal degree is not a teaching qualification. Teacher training is competency based, so a teacher with a BA is not more expert than one with a diploma. Does a teacher with BA produce say 40% better exam results than a diploma teacher? Does a MA teacher get 60% more passes? No! The 21st century teacher needs a set professional title not a diploma. Teaching suffers by degrees which do not reflect competence in teaching. Teaching needs uplifting subscripts to mark the profession and lock into the global equivalent.
The farmer with a BA or other degree is much like this teacher. A PhD in agriculture is not competency based and is no guarantee of better farming than the Farm School Certificate. Yes, people look at you with a degree, but the employer rates you by your output. The qualification, registration and citation of a professional in the practice of farming is long overdue; separate dilettantes from professionals and move. Let's do it now!
The body of knowledge in a profession is always in flux around its core and CPD (Continuing or better, Compulsory Professional Development) is a key element of improvement. Here is some of our reality.
Few successful farmers are agriculturists. The most burnished champion farmer is a surveyor. What?!
We hear the UWI is looking at a professional farmer qualification with a title and the Agricultre Ministry should get on board. Heroes Circle is moving teaching in this direction too. Life is short, get going!
The ACCA of the Accountant is only attained by one route but degrees in areas at the BA, MA or PhD level may qualify for exemptions and international treaties apply. This applies to a legal, engineer's or doctor's registration. It should apply to professions of farming and teaching so people can't just walk in without matching transcripts of degrees to our requirements for practice.
A professional farmer has production as his forte and is the key to food sufficiency. The CEO of one firm said "a MA or PhD in agriculture tells me nothing. I need someone to make our farms produce to the max. I need a farming doctor, men who qualify to do, can do and do do". Farmers and teachers are not academics, they are practitioners. A lawyer with a PhD is not paid more for this title and does not get a QC for it. Academic titles are the currency of a campus, your professional "can do" title is what counts outside.
Professional qualification is not an academic degree, it is praxis: more skilled, better results, greater reward, public acclaim! It's your life. Choose wisely, degree or profession? Stay conscious, my friend!
Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist and project manager and advisor to the minister of education. [email protected]
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz2YAWTJ6fK
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