YTEPP’s Training Departments
Departments
YTEPP, through the stewardship of its C.E.O., has undergone a strategic organizational re-engineering exercise to ensure the optimal delivery of training to its core target audience. This has involved the re-alignment of its departments with specific objectives and targets.
Curriculum
YTEPP’s Curriculum Development Department generates and maintains curriculum processes and documentation to ensure quality educational experiences. The department develops the education plan for the training of individuals to attain competence in technical and vocational skills. It seeks information on labour market trends to identify essential skills that would provide for increased employability of the Programme’s graduates. Curricula are then developed to guide the training process. These curricula are also revised based on industry needs.
The Curriculum Development Department has been working on several projects including: the implementation of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ); revision of the course guides and materials and equipment listings for the following skills; the generation of the CVQ assessment documents and the facilitation of the assessment process; and the development and revision of curricula to meet industry requirements and national development
EDSS
YTEPP’s Entrepreneurial Development and Support Services (EDSS) provide individuals with the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills to become successful business owners or increase their marketability. This multifaceted unit facilitates the development of individuals and groups in the following areas: Micro Entrepreneurship; Career Enhancement; Computer Literacy; YTEPP Future Leaders (YFL); OSH Training; Employment Bureau; and YTEPP Alumni Centre (YAC).
Micro Entrepreneurship
This course is designed for persons who are desirous of starting their own business and have taken technical vocational skills training at YTEPP or any other training institution or already have an existing business. The programme includes four (4) modules: Making Choices; Develop Your Business Idea; Doing Business; and Support and Services.
Career Enhancement
This aspect of training is a compulsory offer for persons who have registered for a course at any YTEPP centre. It involves the development of life skills designed to facilitate the practice and reinforcement of psychosocial skills in a culturally and developmentally appropriate way. It contributes to the promotion of personal and social development, the prevention of health and social problems and the protection of human rights.
Computer Literacy Training
YTEPP’s main goal in this initiative is to reduce the digital divide that exists in Trinidad and Tobago by providing training and access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to citizens. YTEPP’s Mobile Computer Training Units ensure that communities, specifically in rural areas, are technologically equipped to embrace the rapid changes taking place in the work place. Courses are offered in Computer Literacy and exposure to the Internet.
YTEPP Future Leaders
The YFL concept involves exposing YTEPP trainee council presidents, elected by their peers, to high quality, holistic leadership training. This exposure is designed to improve participants’ self-image, build their leadership acumen and equip them to positively impact their peers, families, communities and work places.
The YFL Programme consists of three (3) major components: Leadership Training, Life Skills Training; and Community Service. YFL has completed seven (7) successful cycles graduating over one hundred and sixty (160) trainees with a retention rate of over 90%.
Employment Bureau
This facility assists with the job placement of graduates of YTEPP Limited. It enables graduates seeking employment to be referred to employers throughout Trinidad and Tobago who desire workers with the skill set taught at YTEPP Limited.
YTEPP Alumni Centre (YAC)
The YTEPP Alumni centre provides past and present trainees with further developmental opportunities, particularly through interaction with those who are established in some or similar fields. YAC also facilitates mentorship by past successful graduates who are interested in assisting current trainees. The YAC hosts field trips, workshops and expositions.
Research
YTEPP’s Research Department is responsible for providing support services for the implementation, modification and strengthening of training programmes. Specifically, the Department is accountable for institutional research to aid strategic decision-making and has a monitoring and evaluation function. It is responsible for conducting institutional research focused on different aspects of the programme’s design to provide information that is critical to measuring programme success. This department is also responsible for the management of records on the certification activities of the programme.
The Research Department has worked on several projects including the development of a database solution for recording CVQ certification data; micro-entrepreneurship tracer study; piloted CVQ implementation research project; conducted tour guide assistant tracer study; conducted verification of assessment documents; and undertook various feasibility assessments.
RetrainingYTEPP’s Retraining Department seeks to develop a cadre of potential workers trained to industry standards and adaptable to changing industry needs and the changing environment. The programme focuses on re-tooling and re-skilling unemployed, under-employed, retrenched or displaced persons between the ages 25-60 years who need to acquire a new skill or be retrained in order to enter/re-enter the job market.
YTEPP Retraining is portable, flexible and national in scope. The programme provides Technical Vocational Skills training and Life Skills training, executed from various centres in rural and urban communities throughout Trinidad and Tobago. Emphasis is placed on the development of positive work habits and attitudes, as well as the acquisition of entrepreneurial, interpersonal and communication skills. The courses are designed to equip persons with new and transferable skills and to develop in them, the necessary competencies required to function efficiently and effectively in the job market through wage employment or self-employment.
Training is conducted in cycles and courses run for a period of 14 to 28 weeks ranging from 280 to 560 contact hours. Classes are held four (4) days per week, five (5) hours per day, covering a total of twenty (20) contact hours per week. Trainees must also attend twelve (12) Life Skills Seminars which are designed to provide participants with the requisite employ-ability skills needed to acquire and maintain employment and progress in the workplace.
Class sizes range from 10 to 15 trainees so as to ensure highly individualized instruction, thereby providing ample opportunity for optimal performance. The training is largely hands-on and competence-based. Individuals experience a combination of coaching – one-on-one and group facilitation.
Training Opportunities
Training is offered at Levels 1, 2 and 3 in a wide range of occupational areas. Trainees are assessed and certified to National or Regional Occupational Standards through the Trinidad and Tobago National Vocational Qualification (TTNVQ) or the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ, issued by the National Training Agency (NTA) of Trinidad and Tobago.
Youth TrainingThis aspect of our training positions young persons, 15 to 35 years of age, to acquire entry level skills, become successful business owners or increase their marketability. Training is holistic in scope and provides vocational skills training, counselling support and training in life skills as it attempts to help young people, by developing their technical, behavioral and entrepreneurial skills.
YTEPP’s Youth Training provides quality and relevant education and training. The intention is to produce graduates who are capable of performing in the workplace in keeping with occupational standards. The thrust is to provide the graduate with employable skills in preparation for both wage and self-employment.
The core components of the Youth Training curriculum are vocational skills and career enhancement, complemented by micro-entrepreneurship. The integrated training curriculum provides a range of life and job skills, including preparation for the world of work, counselling and career guidance, attitudinal and personal development (confidence and self-esteem) and small business management skills.
Training Opportunities
Youth Training exposes participants to Level 1 (semi-skilled) training in several occupational areas over a 6-month period (in the case of NEC courses) and a 9-month period (in the case of CVQ courses). Certifications for courses are through the National Examination Council (NEC) and the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) which is issued by the National Training Agency of Trinidad and Tobago.