Building a World-Class, Globally Competitive Jamaican Workforce Establishing HEART as Jamaica’s National Training Agency also required improving the perception of TVET among employers and the general public. HEART/NTA initiated a programme communications messaging from the 1990s to convince key audiences and the population at large of the value of TVET in the preparation of a worldclass, globally competitive Jamaican workforce as a basis for attracting investments and retaining wealth in Jamaica. A study on TVET Governance in Jamaica conducted by UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning in 1999, pointed out that it would be a complex undertaking to change people’s opinions about TVET “in an environment where TVET did not enjoy high social value”. Arguably, the social value of TVET in Jamaica has improved, as the debates in the early days of HEART, which centred on the ‘head vs hand’ BREAKING THE TVET STIGMA Cr dit Union Week In Review 2022 dichotomy between TVET and General (Academic) Education have largely diminished. The Agency took inspiration from the Profile of the Ideal Caricom Citizen Worker issued at the end of the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit in Montego Bay in 1997, to rally the staff of HEART around a compelling vision for the 21st Century World-Class, Globally Competitive Jamaican Worker: Profile of the Ideal Caribbean Citizen/Worker: • Is capable of seizing the economic opportunities which the global environment is presenting • Demonstrates multiple literacies, including foreign language skills, independent and critical thinking. • Has developed the capacity to create and take advantage of opportunities to control, improve, maintain and promote physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing and contribute to the health and welfare of the community and country. • Nourishes in him/her and in others the full development of each person’s potential without gender stereotyping; and embraces the differences and similarities between females and males as a source of mental strength. • Has an informed respect for our cultural heritage and that of others. Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga was honoured at the 20th Anniversary of HEART in 2002.
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