TVET IN MALAYSIA: CAPABILITIES AND CHALLENGES AS VIABLE PATHWAY AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Abstract

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is known as skill-oriented education to fulfill the increased demand of a highly competent workforce with advanced skills. This paper provides an overview of the current literature related to TVET and the analysis of available TVET data in both developed and developing countries. The focus of the review is on numerous challenges in achieving TVET goals. Part of the challenges includes misperceptions and stigmatizations against TVET that contribute to the low enrollment among students applying to further their studies in technical and vocational education. This misperception has led to a poor image of TVET as a viable pathway and educational attainment. TVET seems new to certain people in Malaysia, and this kind of misperception trend will cause the occurrence of continuity in setting stigma as TVET as considered a secondary choice. This paper reviews the scenarios that occur in the world of TVET involving the challenges towards TVET and various initiatives taken towards TVET educational attainment so that it can be used as a guide to performing a paradigm shift towards stigmatization as well as improving the perception of TVET in Malaysia. Certain recommendations were suggested to reinforce the new perception of TVET.