Standards and Competency Frameworks for Administrators in

Technical and Vocational Education Schools (TVET) in Latino

American countries.

Estándares y marcos de competencia para administradores en

escuelas de educación técnica y vocacional (TVET) en países de

Latino América.

Claudia Patricia Ovalle Ramírez, 0000-0002-3664-7290

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

claudia.ovalle@uc.cl

Recepción: 11 de agosto de 2021 / Aceptación: 10 de noviembre de 2021 / Publicación: 3 de enero de 2022

Citación/como citar este artículo:

Ovalle, C. (2022). Standards and Competency Frameworks for Administrators in Technical

and Vocational Education Schools (TVET) in Latino American countries. RehuSo, 7(1) 85-

103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5823520

ReHuSo: Revista de Ciencias Humanísticas y Sociales

e-ISSN 2550-6587

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5823520

Abstract

The paper provides a preview of the standards and frameworks of management used in general

or in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Latino countries. From a

comparative education point of view the article will contribute to understand how management

is understood in the context of Latino schools and the aims and scope of the role. It will also

contribute by comparing different standards and it will offer suggestions regarding the

relevance and possibilities of the standards for an adequate management in TVET education.

Keywords: technical and vocational education, Standards and competency frameworks, school

administrators, school management, Education in Latin-American countries

Resumen

El documento ofrece un avance de los estándares y marcos de gestión utilizados generalmente

en la Educación y formación técnica y profesional (EFTP) en los países latinos. Desde el punto

de vista de la educación comparada, el artículo contribuirá a comprender cómo se entiende la

gestión en el contexto de las escuelas latinas y los objetivos y alcances del rol. También

contribuirá comparando diferentes estándares y ofrecerá sugerencias sobre la pertinencia y

posibilidades de los estándares para una adecuada gestión en la educación de la EFTP.

Palabras clave: Educación técnica y profesional, estándares y marcos de competencias,

administradores escolares, gestión escolar, educación en países latinoamericanos.

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

Introduction

Latin America has increased the population enrolled in all levels of education but still faces

challenges in educational quality and equity. School leadership has been recognized as an

important factor to increase student’s achievement and overall school improvement (Robinson,

2007; Bellei, 2014) especially in vulnerable contexts (Hallinger & Heck, 1996; Leithwood,

2008). For this reason, most Latino countries have attempted to implement standards and

competency frameworks for school leadership and teachers in management. Ecuador has

designed “Estándares de Gestión Escolar y Desempeño Profesional Directivo y Docente”

(Dirección de Estándares Educativos, 2017), Peru committed to “Marco del Buen Desempeño

del Directivo” (Ministry of Education Perú, 2017), Colombia implemented the "Manual de

funciones, requisitos y competencias para directivos docentes” (Ministry of Education,

2016). These standards are a valuable asset and they are used in selection and continuous

assessments of school principals and teachers in management. They provide objective and clear

benchmarks to support principal´s assessment and ideally to ensure accountability (Weinstein

& Hernández, 2014; CEPPE, 2013).

However, a weakness they may have is the lack of context as they do not consider the type of

schools being served by principals. As an example, in Latino countries there are only a few

attempts to implement standards and competency frameworks for administrators in technical

and vocational schools (TVET) but they are still general to be applied to this type of schools.

TVET education may need by its own nature different management standards. This type of

schools train students in general competencies but also offers training for occupational

competences. They serve a population that usually lacks economic and cultural capital who

may need practical training to work as soon as possible. Furthermore, they need a fast and

flexible way to acquire skills, as they may not continue their academic education after high

school (Galeano, 1999)

An example of specific guidelines for school principals in the management of TVET schools

was implemented by Council for Technical Education / University of Labor “Consejo de

Educación Técnico Profesional/Universidad del Trabajo” from Uruguay (CETP/UTU),

however it has not become a gold standard of management in Latino countries. The main idea

is that management requires to lead innovation projects, and not just the typical education

project delivered in general education schools. Besides, school management requires to lead a

body of teachers who may not be trained for vocational education and who may not have

adequate pedagogical skills. Finally, school leaders in TVET education have the commitment

to provide relevant education to respond to the needs of employers which means, they have to

make sure students are learning marketable skills. Management will also lead to improve

school quality as they may compete for funding, they may be pressured by high stakes testing

and they require to integrate a diverse body of students (with cognitive or physical disabilities,

varying capacities for learning and background, etc.).

The present article argues that TVET education requires leadership that goes beyond

instructional or distributed leadership and entails capacities to help develop technical students

in the contexts of educational systems that are far from articulated and lacking to accomplish

the promise of value to educate the technical workforce of the future.

ReHuSo: Revista de Ciencias Humanísticas y Sociales

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5823520

“Leadership” in the context of Latino schools

In this section the aims and scope of the school leader role are described. School leadership

may mean similar chores and aims within the diversity of Latin American countries

(Montecinos, Bush & Aravena, 2018). To start, it is important to make clear that Latino

America refers to countries in the Western Hemisphere where romance languages such as

Spanish, Portuguese and French are predominantly spoken. These include high density

population countries such as Brazil (204.519.000 million people), México (127.500.000),

Colombia (48.218.000), Argentina (43.132.000), Perú (31.153.000) and Venezuela

(30.620.000). The remaining Latino countries have a population under 18.000.000 of people.

The overall population of Latino countries reached 617.311.000 million in 2019. All Latino

countries have develop their own systems to provide education as a public service implemented

by private or governmental agencies. These countries have also developed an emphasis in

school improvement and effectiveness following the Anglo Saxon model of instructional

leadership (planning and coordination of teaching and learning) and distributed leadership

(others beside the principal taking on the leader role) (OECD, 2016; Spilane, 2005; Weinstein

and Hernandez, 2016)

Currently, in most Latin American countries a teaching qualification and teaching experience

are often insufficient attributes for new principals facing new tasks and challenges (Bush,

2018). Principals are expected to establish goals and expectations, perform strategic resourcing,

planning, ensuring an orderly and supportive environment and most importantly coordinating,

evaluating and promoting teacher´s development (Leitwood, et al., 2008; Robinson, 2007).

Furthermore, school managers in Latin America and around the globe have been charged with

new responsibilities. They are now required to go further than merely meeting external

accountability mandates, and they strive to improve the teaching and learning of all students

creating school conditions that foster student´s outcomes (OECD, 2013).

It is also expected that school leaders succeed at a series of responsibilities, full of novelty,

such as making decisions based on school and system-wide data, for example, by exploiting

data analytics (Sergis, Sampson & Giannakos, 2018). Also they should promote student´s

mental health and safe school environments (Dematthews & Brown, 2019), and they are

expected to make greater contributions to staff capacities such as mediating teacher´s

commitment, resilience and effectiveness (Leithwood, et al., 2008). Leadership also takes place

in contexts that were not common before. As education expands around the globe and reaches

new groups of people, innovations such as open and flexible learning, mega universities and

on-line schools have called for a renewed leadership instead of management (Latchem &

Hanna, 2001).

In OECD countries, school leaders are expected to raise levels of student performance, close

the gap in achievement between different student populations, providing inclusive education

to special needs students and immigrant children, reducing drop-out rates, and achieving

greater efficiency (OECD, 2008). Thus leadership has been redefined as ¨the task of influencing

and motivating others to achieve multiple shared goals and objectives ¨ (p.56, Leithwood,

Sammons, Harris & Hopkins, 2006). This involves not just the principal´s role, but the

interaction and cooperation with others in the school (Ministry of Education of Chile, 2015). It

has been stated that in Latino countries school leadership policies are at an early stage and the

current definition of leadership is still a translation of the Anglo Saxon discourse of school

instructional management (defined by decentralization, autonomy, and accountability), and

thus a regional local response to the goal of promoting a renewed

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

context-based leadership must be addressed in these countries (Weinstein & Hernández, 2016).

Table 1 presents a brief overview of the educational systems in Latino countries and the role

of school leaders in the region. Across all countries, school leadership responsibilities include

managerial (abidance to rules and administrative procedures, human resources management,

etc.), instructional (classroom monitoring and feedback, evaluation of teacher performance,

participation in the professional development of teachers) and social (involvement with school

actors and extended context such as public organizations). Although responsibilities may vary

per country in scope and aim, there are common characteristics of school leadership in Latin-

America. First trend, is the lack of pedagogical authority of the principal in almost all Latino

countries. That is the belief that “the teacher is an independent professional, who is not subject

to the pedagogical authority of the principal. In other words, their role in supporting, evaluating

and developing of teacher quality is minimal” (p. 248, Weinstein & Hernández, 2016). A

second trend is a contradiction among regulations and standards, which means that

Competency Frameworks “show little alignment with the major responsibilities that

educational regulations confer to principals” (p.249, Weinstein & Hernández, 2016). Another

common tendency in Latino systems is the little autonomy and restriction on decision making

on budget and school resources conferred to principals. Finally, school leader´s in- service

training and certification is not aligned with Standards and Frameworks of school leadership

yet. Despite these trends, Latin American countries have a strong potential for quality

improvement. An example is the incipient and progressive professionalization of the

principal´s role in schools:

Many school systems have made efforts in installing new, more technical and less

discretionary principal recruitment processes, with predefined profiles, public procedures

and collective decision making instances. Additionally, in some cases, performance

appraisal procedures have been implemented while in others, they are being currently being

discussed and designed. Lastly, almost all systems have introduced monetary incentives to

better reward the position and positively differentiate it from the status of classroom teachers

(p., 258, Weinstein & Hernández, 2016).

Table 1 - Brief review of educational systems in Latino countries.

Country

Educational system

Leadership role

Chile

Central-local governance model: Ministry of

education orients and regulates all public

schools in terms of pedagogical matters.

Administratively, decisions about

infrastructure, personnel and budget are the

responsibility of the Municipal Department of

Education (DEM). There exist a national and

unique curriculum and standardized tests at

different levels of education.

The curriculum is centralized as well as

pedagogic development, monitoring and

supervision of schools. It has an interesting

Leadership role is defined in the Competency

Framework for “Good School Headship and

School Leadership” or “Marco para la Buena

Dirección y el Liderazgo Escolar” (2015).

There are also a set of Performance Indicators

for Schools and Administrators (2014) and

performance agreement contracts for public

schools.

Law 201.501 provisions for affording

principals greater autonomy in decision-

making (staff hiring/firing but up to a 5%)

ReHuSo: Revista de Ciencias Humanísticas y Sociales

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5823520

model based on high school performance

expectations.

TVET education is provided by public schools

(not private) and tertiary level TVET education

is provided by public and private institutions.

Argentina

Model of shared governance between the

national government, provinces and federal

districts. There is a central nationwide

authority (Ministry of Education, Culture

Science and Technology). Private providers at

all levels generate their own funding.

Education provision is managed at state or

provincial level.

TVET education in secondary schools lasts 6

years. Argentina developed a Law of Technical

Education (Law No 26.058) that regulates

TVET in all levels of education.

High number of school leader´s responsibilities

(up to 63 different activities). Leadership

dimensions include instructional,

administrative and social. However,

instructional responsibilities are well defined.

Brazil

With the exception of tertiary education,

Brazil’s education system is largely

decentralized to the states and municipalities.

All levels of government drive education

policy. The System requires better articulation

between levels of education, greater flexibility

and efficiency in governance and management

in schools.

It has developed a National Curriculum and

performance standards (SAEB Proficiency

Scale). Compared to other countries, a very low

rate of students enroll in TVET education (8%

compared to 46% OECD average).

Focused definition of roles with emphasis in

goal setting and instruction. School leaders in

Brazil report

that they frame and communicate their schools’

goals, co-operate with teachers to resolve

discipline issues, develop and promote

instructional improvement and support

professional development more than their peers

in other Latino countries.

Colombia

Complex (including several bodies and

agencies) and decentralized system with

national standards for education but different

curriculums in schools. Varying levels of

coordination among national and local levels.

It has recently implemented a full day schedule

and technical education can start in grade 9

(15 years of age). It has also implemented a

National Framework of Qualifications to

Wide range of responsibilities for principals:

goal setting, organizational conditions,

administration and instruction. Principals are

regulated by the National Ministry of

Education and local governmental agencies

(Local Secretary of Education).

The country has Leadership Standards

(“Manual of functions, requirements and

competences for teaching managers”) (2003)

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

recognize and validate formal and informal

learning. Responsibility for the system of

education is shared between the nation and

territorial entities. TVET education is guided

and mainly provided by the SENA, an

institution dependent on the Labor Ministry.

based on functional and behavioral

competencies of principals.

Ecuador.

Centralized authority of the Minister of

Education. The Ecuadorian constitution

requires that all children attend basic

education. The high school level is called

“Bachillerato General” or “General High

School” which does not differentiate among

TVET or Academic students. TVET students

receive additional training and the same

curriculum as academic students. Ecuador

recently created a National University of

Education.

A framework for leadership was developed in

2011 (core competences are leadership,

curriculum, management and climate). The

principal´s role has low emphasis on

instruction but wide variety of responsibilities:

from administration to management and social

participation and involvement.

México

Upper secondary is mandatory. Local

territories may adapt the national curriculum

including local contents. To increase territorial

outreach, administrative and legal services

have been decentralized to sub-regional

offices. However, municipalities have only a

little role in issues such as educational

infrastructure. It has develop content and

definitions of expected learning outcomes, but

it still does not have National Standards for

School Leadership. Teacher Union play a

major role as stakeholder on personnel

decisions (appointments, hiring, firing, etc.).

“Evaluación Universal” is an assessment for

the educational workforce. The New

Educational Model (Nuevo Modelo Educativo,

2017), ensures that all students are able to

develop the skills required in the 21st century.

High number of responsibilities and emphasis

on administration and very low on instruction.

The system still lacks a widely accepted

framework defining standards for the teaching

and leadership roles.

The General Law of the Professional Teacher

Service (2013) aims to professionalize school

leaders by introducing a transparent selection

and recruitment process, as well as an induction

process, during the first two years of practice.

School leader appraisal in Mexico also became

legislatively mandated. INEE became in charge

of the approval of the evaluation tools for this.

Perú

The Ministry of Education is the central

jurisdiction regarding formulation,

implementation and supervision of the national

policy in Education. It has an emphasis in

Limited emphasis on instructional leadership

and very low and delimited range of

responsibilities. It has develop a Framework

for Principals (Framework for Good

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intercultural Education. There are private and

public providers of Education that vary in

quality. TVET education is offered in the last 3

years of High School and it is differentiated

from the education students receive in the

academic track.

Management Performance) which is extended

to the role of leaders in TVET education.

Costa

Rica

It is centralized by the Minister of Public

Education. It has been successful at providing

universal access to basic education. It

implemented measures to improve leadership

in schools and a reformed school supervision in

2010. Quality assurance is school lead, but

poor outcomes in learning are persistent.

School principals undergo assessments but

results are not used for accountability. There is

a high level of vocational education

involvement but it is still highly academical, as

all students pursue the assessment to obtain the

Bachillerato title.

Leaders have a limited role in instruction.

Supervisors stay focused on procedural

compliance. Leaders are not accountable for

learning outcomes or improvement.

Source: OECD Reviews of National Policies for Education, 2010.

Standards and Competency Frameworks for Administrators used

in Latino Countries

In Latino countries the standards and frameworks of competency for school leaders are the

definitions that systems adopt to establish the main duties to be performed by principals

(Weinstein & Hernández, 2016). In the region the policy for school principals has been

governed by the Ministry of Education, but there are no presence of specialized institutions or

specific units to train and evaluate school leaders. Also, in most Latino countries there is

relative autonomy for affairs related to private school´s principals. Table 2 introduces a

summary of “Standards and Frameworks of Competency for Administrators” developed in

some Latino countries.

In Chile there is an attempt to consolidate a strong body of school principals who are able to

participate in school life and who are chosen based on merit by the government. They are public

servants and their work is oriented by the MDBL (“Framework for Good Educational

Management and Leadership”). This frame is making a change as it strives to enhance the

principal´s participation in the pedagogical aspects of teaching and learning over and above

focusing on managerial aspects of leadership. It has been reported that leaders in Chilean

schools present a high turn-over rate, which is due in part to the burdensome load of

responsibility and the lack of professional development (they have to go thru the ¨”swim” or

“sink” experience) (Valliant, 2011).

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

Chile has advanced in defining and measuring effectiveness in school leadership. Leadership

in Chile is the “practice of improving” not just a personal inherent attribute or a static

competence. Instead, it is a group of daily actions based in knowledge, skills, habits that may

be taught and learnt (p. 10, Mineduc 2015). And Chile has focused on evidence regarding the

importance of increasing pedagogical leadership instead of school management (Weinstein et

al, 2012; Leithwood, Sammons, Harris & Hopkins, 2006; Robinson, 2009). It also has raised

expectations and regulations tying principal´s activities to student´s outcomes. For example,

the implementation of a nationwide System of School Quality Assurance (“Sistema Nacional

de Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Escolar”, SAC), which is composed by three

agents: a superintendence agency, an assessment agency and a curricular review and approval

agency. All work together in coordination with the Ministry of Education to help improve and

support schools and their principals.

Table 2 - Standards and Frameworks of Competency for Administrators in Latino Countries.

Country

Standards

Core

Chile

MDBL. Framework for Good

Educational Management and

Leadership

“Marco de la Buena Dirección y

Liderazgo”

(Ministry of Education, 2015)

Organizes what principals should know and be able to do:

 Shared and strategic vision.

 Developing professional capacities.

 Developing school community and participation.

 Leading teaching and learning processes.

 Developing the organization.

Ecuador

Standards of School Management

and Professional Performance

Manager and Teacher

“Estándares de Gestión Escolar y

Desempeño Profesional Directivo y

Docente” (Dirección Nacional de

Estándares Educativos, 2017)

Principals are in charge of:

 Management , pedagogical aspects

 Management, administrative aspects

 School climate

 Educational Services

 Risk Management

Perú

Framework for Good Management

Performance

“Marco del Buen Desempeño del

Directivo” (Ministry of Education,

2017)

Includes 2 domains, 9 competences and performances

indicators for school leaders:

 Management to improve learning conditions

Plans(knowledge about pedagogical process, school

climate, student characteristics and environment) to reach

goals

Promotes and sustain democratic participation

Favors conditions to ensure learning preventing risks and

managing resources

Promotes assessment of the educational institution and

accountability

 Guiding pedagogical process to improve learning

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Promotes and leads a learning community with teachers

based in cooperation, self-assessment and continuous

training and development.

Manages process quality within institutions by

accompanying teachers and promoting reflection to reach

learning goals.

Colombia

Manual of functions, requirements

and competences for teaching

managers

"Manual de funciones, requisitos y

competencias para directivos

docentes” (Ministry of Education,

2016).

It is composed by functional competences and specific

competences:

 Functional include: academic management,

financial management, community interaction,etc.

 Behavioral include: leadership, sensitivity,

communication, team work, negotiation.

Source: Institutional sources from different Latin American countries.

Also Chile is a particular example of the way laws and public policy are improving education

and educational leadership. The Law 20.501 has stated new ways to select and recognize school

leaders, which does not over -emphasize the selection based on formal education but

experience and also implements a very selective process. Also, it is stated in the Chilean Law

that principals are responsible for ¨directing and coordinating the educational project at their

schools¨, they are able to build up their own directive teams and are free to remove up to 5%

of school teachers. The Chilean law also recognizes that leadership depends on contexts and is

contingent to aspects such as school vulnerability and conditions. Finally, Chile has

implemented annual assessments of principal performance which is not implemented in all

Latino countries except in Colombia, with consequences to principals. (Weinstein and

Hernández, 2014).

For Chilean leaders the Competency Framework establishes 5 practical dimensions (shared

strategic vision, professional capacities, leading teaching and learning, developing school

community/participation and managing the school) and 3 personal resources (principles, skills

& professional knowledge). The core principle of the framework is that principals must be

involved in monitoring and aligning curriculum and instruction across all levels. Teaching and

assessment are also synchronized and coherence and continuity should be reached. Also

principals must base their actions in ethics, social justice and integrity. According to Weinstein

& Hernández (2016), “The definition of functions of school directors existing in Chile

corresponds to an exception within of the Latin American cases, distinguished by its focus on

a few relevant responsibilities and pedagogical leadership” (p. 56, 2014).

This leadership encompasses tasks such as organizing the pedagogical work of teachers,

supervising classes and classrooms, controlling for learning outcomes, advising teachers,

directing and controlling for the academic program and its implementation, and motivating

professional development of teachers.

Ecuador implemented a Framework of competency for principals that is tied to the expectations

of school and teacher´s performance (Dirección Nacional de Estándares Educativos, 2017).

This framework promotes coordination among three levels (teachers, principals and schools).

For example, teachers are required to plan ahead according to the curriculum and school project

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

while the school has to tailor an annual curricular plan, and the school leader is urged to manage

the implementation of such plan. Also, while teachers inform the malfunction of infrastructure

and promote proper use of it, school leaders must manage infrastructure and supervise its use

while schools must storage records of maintenance and control of infrastructure use.

Regarding Administrative Management school leaders in Ecuador are required to be

responsible for management of the school project and are held accountable for communicating

and connecting with the extended school community. Also, they are in charge of human

resources management by providing incentives and training to school personnel and oversight

of duty compliance according to the “Manual of Academic and Administrative Processes”.

However, they are not responsible for hiring or evaluating their own personnel. Additional

responsibilities include management of infrastructure and oversight of data analysis and

delivery to Ministry of Education. Pedagogical Management, includes responsibilities such as

coordinating the annual curricular plan and the institutional curricular plan, and follows up the

development of curricular planning (reviewing teacher´s planning or micro-curricular

planning), and oversees the development of teacher and student remedial plan. School climate

responsibilities for school leaders include promoting a healthy social environment, relating to

other schools, supervising the code of school coexistence, implementing research in

cooperation with other institutions, and participation in projects to benefit the community.

Additional functions of school principals include Coordination of the delivery or operation of

Complementary services that the institution offers and School risk management.

This set of standards for principals are intended to be applied to all public schools. It is

interesting that standards targeted to the school principal do not promote a distributed

leadership among school actors (as well as it is stated in the national education law or “Ley

Orgánica de Educación Intercultural”). It also has a combination of pedagogical and

management duties but it is not expected that pedagogical duties are core to the principal´s role.

In words of an Ecuadorian school teacher:

When analyzing the practice of school management in Ecuador, there is a personal direction

with little participation of the educational community (among others, teachers, students,

families) and a practically null democracy for decision making. In short, the managerial

function in Ecuador continues on administrative and / or managerial lines, which responds to a

management profile (p. 27, Rodríguez, 2017).

Perú has developed a Framework of Competency for Administrators (“Marco del Buen

Desempeño Directivo”), intended to orientate the selection, assessment and training of

educational leaders (Ministry of Education, 2014). Perú has also introduced a law (Law 29944

or “Ley de Reforma Magisterial”) to establish a Program for Professional Development of

School leaders (“Programa Nacional de formación y capacitación de directores y subdirectores

de Instituciones Educativas”) focused in principals, principal assistants and TVET -technical

and vocational- school leaders. It also devised a system for School Management, including

assessment for selection and incentives to school leaders. All these changes are aimed to

develop a structural reform of the school as an institution focused in pedagogical and

distributed leadership. Although Peru is a pioneer in emphasizing the importance of

pedagogical leadership over administrative leadership in Latin-America, in Chile it has already

been stated in the law that principals should supervise teachers in the classroom and have more

decision power over teacher body in matters regarding instruction.

The standards and framework for school leaders in Peru are organized in domains, competences

and indicators. The latter are specific behaviors that demonstrate the school leader´s

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5823520

competence. There are 2 competences emphasizing the importance of instructional or

pedagogical leadership: Management to improve learning conditions and Guiding pedagogical

process to improve learning.

The first competency includes a set of actions that demonstrates the active role of the school

leader: evaluates school climate, designs assessment instruments, develops diagnosis, promotes

participation, solves conflicts, manages resources and risks within the school and conducts

continuous quality improvement. Among these actions, “managing” or “leading” is only

mentioned once (“providing direction to the administrative team”). The second competency

encompasses actions to promote a learning community with the teachers based in mutual

collaboration, professional self-evaluation and continuous training towards improving the

pedagogical practice and ensure learning achievement. It also encompasses monitoring of

assessment practices and teaching methodologies.

Colombia also developed a set of Standards for Principals as managers. It encompasses two

types of competences: managerial (functional) and behavioral competences. Functional

competences for leaders are associated with the direction and organization of operation of

institutions and educational establishments. The actions related to management performance

are: direction, planning, coordination, administration, orientation and programming in schools.

Principals have to accomplish almost 32 activities ranging from supporting the implementation

of parenting programs within the school, developing risk management strategies, managing

accounting responsibilities, improving teaching methodologies and giving feedback and

training opportunities to teachers.

On the other hand, behavioral competences include: Responsibility for personnel in charge,

skills and professional aptitudes, responsibility for decision making, and innovation in

management. Although the standards are used for assessment of principals, they are not tied

to specific training. Also, the standards promote innovation in leadership giving space to

leaders to change their practices to benefit schools. The core of the leader’s role is to orchestrate

and coordinate actions to develop the Institutional Education Plan (which contains the mission

and vision of the institution and plan for immediate and long terms in schools). This goal is

accompanied with actions to improve teaching but high expectations of student outcomes are

not considered as a goal of leader´s responsibilities.

Meaningful experiences in TVET school´s that required

management commitment in Latino countries.

Schools training students in technical and vocational education have a major challenge. They

have to overcome difficulties arising from schools as complex organizations, and also they

have a promise of value which they have to commit to. A TVET school educates vulnerable

students who may want to start working immediately, who are not able or willing to continue

their education and who want to learn something useful and practical additional to general

knowledge. Facing these needs, leadership as defined by the Frameworks and Standards of

competency has to go beyond duty.

Principals can inspire change and can orient school communities to shared views. If a school

desires to train individuals to work or to continue their TVET education in higher education

(College or Technical Higher Education), schools have to get students ready for future

challenges. As an example, Chile has been working in programs to articulate the TVET high

school with future work and career goals. One of these programs is developed by “Telefonica”

(a major communications provider) and Duoc-UC (a Chilean TVET higher education

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

institution). They are designing curriculums with the support of school principals to help

improve the skills and knowledge of students who are trained in the field of

Telecommunications. Thus, the students undergoing the program can be hired by the company

as soon as they graduate from high schools. They may also continue in Technical Higher

Schools to obtain an upper degree in Technology. A second Chilean experience involves

principals and schools that train students to work in the field of the mining industry. Under the

joint association of the CORFO (Association for the development of industry) and “Fundación

Chile” (an NGO), the aim is to train students from high schools to higher education. These

students are being acknowledged for their learning in the field. This serves the purpose of

articulating the levels of education and providing a more enriched experience of learning to

students. Chile is an interesting model of what TVET education in Latin America should be in

the future.

Peru has been the first of all Latino Countries to emphasize the importance of centering school

leadership in pedagogical goals. It also has a strong emphasis in reflection and promoting goal

achievement in the context of schools. Although the results of Peru have not been competitive

respective other countries participating in OECD´s PISA program (OECD, 2018), Peru has

grasped the importance of leadership centered in outcomes and learning. It is also important to

notice that Perú has attempted to declare specific goals for principals in TVET schools.

In Mexico students in schools can go through one of three streams: an academic stream

(Bachillerato general), a technical vocational stream (Profesional técnico), and a stream which

combines both general and vocational education (Bachillerato tecnológico). All three streams

lead to the award of an upper secondary diploma (certificado) and can provide access to higher

education. Recent education reforms have aimed to boost technical education in Mexico, such

as the introduction of the dual training system in 2013 (OECD, 2018). It is based in combination

of school and work-based learning. In order to implement a dual training system, school leaders

have to be involved with the needs of industry and students to supply for adequate training

going further than the mere compliance with instruction based on a TVET –technical and

vocational- school curriculum.

Finally, in Latin America, Reduca (Red Latinoamericana de Organzaciones de la Sociedad

Civil por la Educación) is looking to improve the training and development of school leaders

in Latino countries. This public-private partnerships around Latino America have built a

Community for Shared Knowledge in School Leadership (“Comunidad de Aprendizaje Latino

Americana de Liderazgo Escolar”) as a means to contribute to School Leaders in all Latino

countries. It puts together different organizations such as Empresarios por la Educación

(Colombia), Todos por la Educación (Brasil), Educar 2050(Argentina), Educación

2020(Chile), Juntos por la educación (Paraguay), Grupo Faro (Ecuador) among others. They

have been recognized by UNESCO (2015, 2016) Overall, they are initiatives to promote

standards of leadership performance adapted to local needs and context. Other initiatives to

improve leadership include PREAL (Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the

Americas) which has supported the formulation and piloting of a set of competencies for school

principals in Panama and one experience in Dominican Republic with the purpose of

strengthening leadership capacity at district and school level(Avalos, 2011)

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5823520

Suggestions regarding the relevance and possibilities of the

standards for an adequate management in TVET education

The first Latin American study regarding school effectiveness included 5.600 students, 250

classrooms and a hundred of schools across 9 Latino countries (Murillo, 2007). It confirmed

that across Latin American countries, a leadership focused in pedagogical matters instead of

management has an impact in the learning of Latino students (it increases in 0, 55 score points

in Math and 0,42 in Language Arts in standardized test (TERCE)). If leadership is an important

leverage for school improvement, TVET education may require a leadership that faces the

challenges of this kind of education.

Table 3 - Proposal for TVET Leader Competency Standards

Competency

Description

Commitment to Skills Development

 Make efforts to promote the development

of skills: cognitive, socio emotional and

marketable skills.

Manage Challenge and Change

 Ability to respond to environmental

challenges and changing conditions.

Resource Seeking

 Find and attract resources for the school

and the community (not just financial

resources)

Advocacy/ Commit to educational justice.

 Be part of public policy building and

promoting the cause of TVET education

and students.

Involvement with Industry and key Stakeholders

 Knowing and relating to other key

participants in the TVET education

community, as well as with the industry

and organizations. Secure alliances with

these stakeholders.

Manage and Promote diversity

 Embrace and promote difference. Helping

to build an inclusive community that

accepts learners who are not conventional

(adults, overaged, workers, from low SES,

first generation in TVET) and required

different methodologies for learning.

Improve conditions for TVET learning

 Promote successful transitions of TVET

students between schools and labor market,

or between schools and higher education

 Promote learning by doing and novel

learning experiences.

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

 Secure conditions for effective learning

(e.g., school climate, teaches trained and

with proper resources)

Manage Human Resources

 Develop and promote teachers training in

TVET

Source: Institutional sources from different Latin American countries.

Commitment to Skills Development. TVET leaders have to make efforts to promote the

development of skills, both cognitive and socio emotional. Cognitive skills, including critical

reasoning, problem solving and most importantly the capacity for self-learning. Today, Latino

youth are lagging behind 1 to 5 years in reading and math compared to OECD countries

(OECD, 2018). School leaders have to compromise to help these students commit to learning

and to make sure they obtain a level of skill and competence. An important purpose of TVET

education and a measurable outcome is employability. Thus TVET leaders have to promote the

acquisition of marketable skills. To this end a standard for TVET leaders is not just to keep up

with enrollment and avoiding students drop out, but increasing the number of students that

successfully complete their TVET education and receive meaningful training and experience.

For example, in Chilean TVET schools, students complete their high schools obtaining their

diploma, however, in many cases students do not complete their practical training (450 hours

up to 720 hours) after high school. This prevents students from getting their credential as

Middle Level Technician and prevents them from obtaining meaningful work experience.

Leaders should promote the completion of this experience as it is relevant for future technical.

Manage Challenge and Change. Principals are responsible for their school and their student´s

learning and improvement. This encompasses being attentive to changes (in policy, in

communities, within the education system) to adapt and change. For example, most Latino

countries have moved slow towards developing strategies to make jobs competitive to respond

to challenges in the new i4.0 revolution (automatization of jobs, internet of things, knowledge

based economies). In this context TVET education can play an important role to introduce

students to forthcoming changes.

Resource Seeking. A leader has to search for resources such as knowledge, know-how,

practices, and not less relevant financial sources (e.g., of money, scholarships, or the like). This

ability is not promoted as public schools are funded with government resources. Also,

principals in Latino schools are not enabled to manage financial resources. However, leaders

can find resources to strengthen their schools and their communities, for example, by finding

opportunities within organizations and NGO´s promoting the development and improvement

of learning within TVET.

Advocacy/ Commit to educational justice. Political involvement is relevant to make change

happen. Teacher unions and civil organizations have advocated for the rights of students around

Latin America. For example, recently students sued the government of Chile in the Inter-

American Court of Human Rights due to the bias against TVET students when they take the

high stakes PSU standardized test (which is designed for academic track students). Leaders can

commit to help their students and the system advocating to change their conditions.

Involvement with Industry and Key Stakeholders. Leaders should be able to build meaningful

relationships with important stakeholders and industries. If training does not respond to market

needs, TVET training fails. Also, training opportunities can be enriched with the involvement

of industries related to TVET curriculum in schools.

100

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Manage and Promote diversity. Principals have to be able to promote the inclusion of a diverse

student body. TVET students include poor and vulnerable students, overaged students, people

with disabilities, migrants. All these populations deserve a high quality TVET education.

Improve conditions for TVET learning. This competence is referred to the pedagogical

leadership that is stated in the Standards and competency frameworks in some Latino countries.

The core of this competence is promoting TVET student learning. In order to achieve this it is

important to secure conditions for effective learning (e.g., school climate, teaches trained and

with proper resources, etc.). Also, it is important to promote meaningful learning experiences

in TVET training. As an example, a school principal interviewed by the author of this paper

stated that TVET students in his school has an Electrical Workshop in which students used a

real wall of the school infrastructure to fix cables and electrical networks. This experience has

helped students to realize the importance and usefulness of the skills learnt in school

workshops.

Manage Human Resources. Principals in TVET schools can help promote learning by selecting

the appropriate teachers (experienced and involved in the industries), developing staff and

being able to assess and provide feedback regarding pedagogical aspects.

This proposal to frame TVET school leader´s competences is not overarching, as there may be

many more competences required to be an effective school leader. However, it may be an

example to start the conversation regarding the standards and corresponding assessment of

leaders in TVET education.

Conclusion

The international research in school effectiveness agrees that 3 factors are principal to

leadership strength of purpose (unity of purpose), participation and involvement of school

community (to increase shared purpose and decision making) and professional authority

(professional knowledge of curriculum, teaching and student outcomes). Latin America is

working towards having school leaders accomplish these conditions by implementing rules and

actions to improve school leader’s role. As an example, across many Latino countries

Frameworks and Standards of Competency for school leadership are being implemented to

define a more restricted and precise list of duties. Also, Latino countries are introducing a

system for selection and performance assessments and incentives to school leaders. Latino

countries are building school leadership that covers key policy issues of concern: principals

focused on monitoring and supervision of the quality of schooling and teaching on the one hand

and pedagogical leadership of principals and teachers on the other. That is leaders and their

management teams in Latino countries are increasingly carrying out both a support role as well

as a ‘monitoring-of-compliance-with-rules-and-regulations’ role.

The concept that guides the school leadership in OECD countries suggest that effective

school leadership may not reside exclusively in formal positions but may instead be distributed

across a number of individuals in the schools contributing to learning centered schooling, with

varying governance, management, autonomy and accountability. Successful schools need

effective leadership (higher order tasks designed to improve staff, student and school

performance), management (routine maintenance of operations), and administration (lower

order duties). Nevertheless, to develop this type of leadership in Latin-America and following

the comparative analysis, a stronger articulation between standards for Administrators and

evaluation mechanisms, educational regulations and management training is needed. It is also

important to set a Quality Training policy that distinguishes between different moments of the

Claudia Patricia, Ovalle Ramírez. Standards and competency frameworks for administrator in technical and

vocational education schools (tvet) in latino american countries.

101

directive career and the empowerment of leaders at the school level (ej. by providing more

decision making responsibilities and resources to principals).

Although most of principals in Latino countries have a high level of education, 43,1% hold a

bachelor degree and 20,1% master´s level, it is relevant to follow suggestions regarding school

leadership training. This training must be aligned with Standards and Frameworks of

Leadership and it has to be centered in developing professional skills in the leader but also

construct capacities within schools (p.ej., help build truly distributed leadership and learning

and professional development communities within the school). It also has to be focused on

practice and adult learning principles and it is relevant if it can benefit not just the principal,

for example in the double training (school leader and assistant principal).

School autonomy is not a widespread practice in the region and school principals live between

a struggle of power fights that does not help their role as leaders and administrators. For

example, they do not manage school resources (set teacher remuneration, define budgets,

allocate resources or fund infrastructure) and neither have freedom to select, promote or

exclude teacher from service (or even chose the composition of their management teams).

However, they are accountable for results and outcomes even though they cannot participate

in curriculum building in most countries (except Colombia where there is not a national

curriculum but schools are free to tailor it). They also may not have power to redesign the

organization or carry out instructional leadership. In this context Latino leaders, and

particularly TVET school leaders, are far out the ideal of school leadership, in which principals

set directions, develop people, redesign the organization and provide instructional leadership.

This tension can be resolved with more school autonomy and by diminishing power struggles

and reinforcing the importance of distributed and pedagogical focused leadership (monitoring,

modelling, evaluating and providing feedback to teachers).

Finally, Australia has developed Standards and Frameworks of school leadership taking

into account the needs of prospective and established principals. It is key that the standards are

also linked to professional learning opportunities and some form of certification. Considering

this aspect, a framework and standards for school principals in TVET education should

consider the particular needs of training and mentoring for these leaders.

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Contribución de los Autores

Autor

Contribución

Claudia Patricia Ovalle Ramírez

Concepción y diseño, redacción del artículo y

revisión del artículo.