Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is one aspect of the general education system that focuses specifically on preparing students for employment. The availability of information and communication technology (ICT) tools has significantly changed the needs of students and the demands of the workplace. In order to prepare students to function effectively in a technology-driven work environment, the TVET curricula must be revised to incorporate ICT both as a subject of instruction and as a tool for facilitating instruction.

Small booming hydrocarbon exporting countries are very often challenged to utilize their economic windfall to transform their economies and improve the living conditions for their citizens. Both the transformation of the economy and the improvement of living conditions require the timely and cost effective construction of medium to large scale infrastructure and commercial projects. Such projects bring into focus the construction sector of these countries.

This study sought to find out the attitudes of students in two high schools towards technical and vocational education (TVE) placement and the implications for their career choices. The main study sample comprised 178 grade 11 students in five vocational options from a rural and from an urban upgraded high school in Jamaica. Upgraded high schools are vocationally oriented with the objective of preparing students for the world of work and ensuring a greater awareness of job and career fields.

Different contextual situations make it necessary for teachers to be innovative in the delivery process in order to achieve their objectives. These contexts may include the absence of resources in the classrooms; students with different learning styles; oversized classes; administrative demands on the teacher that are beyond his or her core functions; new technologies and the challenge of learning to use them to enhance learning in the classroom.

This article explores the issue of the lecturer as a researcher in the context of a tertiary level technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institution in Jamaica. Much of what is said, however, will find easy application to TVET institutions in small developing countries in the Commonwealth Caribbean and elsewhere. The article first explores, broadly, the concept of research in education and its general application to the field of TVET. It then addresses a number of issues more specifically related to the lecturer as a researcher in a TVET institution.

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has been positioned as a major contributor to national development in the  Caribbean (Chaplin, 2006;  McIntosh, 2008; Miller, 1998; O’Lawrence, 2008). The discourse about TVET has been laudatory in the main, acclaiming the potential benefits of vocational education in particular and underscoring it as a transformational tool in the educational firmament, particularly with respect to practical training pursued in light of the imperatives of nation building.

The paper begins with an analysis of the impact of vocational education in Jamaica over the past 30 years. A critical look was taken of the two periods of major interventions in Jamaica: the introduction of the grades 10 and 11 programme in 1974 and the introduction of the HEART Trust in 1982. The article advances the view that vocational education in Jamaica has failed to have the required impact in preparing a workforce to respond adequately to issues of employment, productivity and efficiency.

Policies to guide development and implementation of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) are critical if maximum benefits are to be derived from this type of education. According to Morris (1998), Jamaica has viewed TVET as an important aspect of education and suggested that no nation can succeed in its national development without a well established TVET system. TVET encourages individuals, businesses, especially small, medium and macro enterprises (SMMEs), local community groups, women and marginalized or disenfranchised people or groups to perform better.

Publication of this special issue of the Caribbean Journal of Education (CJE) to address technical and vocational education and training (TVET) signals a new level in the integration of TVET in the general education system. Through this medium, issues related to policy and strategies for guiding the implementation of TVET are presented for discussion among both practitioners and those who have an interest in TVET.

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education has been well established in a wide variety of areas, however, its use in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and in particular agricultural education has been compromised perhaps as a result of lack of exposure to the various ICT applications that are available to support this area.