TEVETA TRAINS ENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTRUCTORS

The European Union funded STEP has supported TEVETA in training a total of 20 entrepreneurship training instructors from technical colleges across the country.

The 20 entrepreneurship instructors were selected to be master trainers from the 71 instructors that were trained in entrepreneurship during the first week of August, 2019 whose main aim was to equip them with competencies to deliver the revised entrepreneurship curriculum.

The four-day Entrepreneurship Master Trainer Training took place from 26th August to 29thAugust 2019 at the Malawi Institute of Management in Lilongwe.

The objective of the training was to equip TEVET entrepreneurship instructors with competences to become master trainers to support the 71 entrepreneurship trainers previously trained.

One of the participants, Mary Sibale, who is entrepreneurship instructor at Mzuzu Technical College says it is a great achievement for her to be a master trainer.

“The knowledge I have acquired will help me to bring change in my community because I am now a mentor,” she says.

The trainer, René Vermeulen says, “We have trained a selection of instructors on coaching, feedback and assessment of the peer instructors. The training will help them to support entrepreneurs in implementing the revised curriculum.

He adds, “As part of the assignment, we have developed an APP, and we are tailoring it to Malawi TEVET, focusing on building a business model. The APP will be available online and as a downloaded application so that entrepreneurship trainers and students can use it directly on their phone. Users can also share the App via Bluetooth with their friends.”

The Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA) Entreprenuership Officer Bertha Nyirenda says the APP will help to enhance the quality of the delivery of entrepreneurship in the TEVET sector.

“The APP is covering the standards and the modules that are in the new curriculum, so the students will be able to log in into the APP and do self-learning, so it will also enhance the learning process,” she says.

Nyirenda adds,“The master trainers will be training their fellow instructors. The advantage of this is that as peers, they will be able to relate with each other and give each other feedback. Having master trainers is a plus because this is happening at a time when we are revising the entrepreneurship curriculum” she says.

During the closing ceremony, STEP Team Leader Arthur Shears thanked the participants for attending the workshop.

“I have been advised by my colleagues that you have been working hard, and I didn’t expect anything less because Malawi is your country. I wish you all the best of luck as you go back to teach entrepreneurship and help your peers to improve their teaching skills,” he says.

Shears also thanked the European Union for funding the initiative and all stakeholders such as the Ministry of Labour, Skills and Innovation and TEVETA for the role they are playing in skills development.

Skills and Technical Education Programme is funded by the European Union and partially funded by UNESCO.