Rwanda Polytechnic’s Industrial attachment guidelines and workplace learning logbook*

Tool focus

This tool introduces rationale and guidelines for the effective application of Workplace Learning (WPL) programmes and a template for the development of WPL assessment and reporting.

Target group

The presented tool has been designed to support Rwanda Polytechnic’s network of integrated polytechnic regional colleges (IPRC), and their employer stakeholders in the design and delivery of workplace learning programmes and learners’ industrial attachments. It is anticipated that it will provide valuable insights for providers across the AU who are looking to introduce guidelines that standardised their WPL programmes.

The Programme: Workplace learning and Apprenticeships in Rwanda

In Rwanda workplace learning (WPL)⁴   is governed by a legal framework that is providing definitions of the different types of WPL possibilities as shown below.

Workplace learning in Rwanda (WPL)⁵  - Definition of terms

Attachment (or Industrial Attachment): An attachment is a compulsory part of an education program, usually implemented in the TVET sector and in higher education. Participants are students, and the successful attachment is a pre-requisite for graduation and certification. Although the learning may be structured, the main purpose of an attachment is work exposure by putting into practice what has been learnt before.

Internship: An internship is an opportunity offered by an employer to potential employees, called interns, to work at a firm /an organization for a fixed or limited period of time in the area related to his/her field of study. The professional internship is not part of an educational learning program, but an own-standing work experience scheme, aimed at easing the entrance into work of Rwandan graduates from higher learning and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.

Dual apprenticeship or Cooperative apprenticeship: Cooperative training is a modern form of apprenticeship. An important learning location is a company, but the training is complemented by basic, generic and theoretical training modules, delivered in a training institution. Usually, cooperative training is governed by a formal training contract, is based on a learning plan or curriculum and aims at a formal qualification.

Industry Based Training (IBT) or TVET in companies: It is a form of modernized traditional apprenticeship where TVET is provided in and by companies. Usually, an enterprise has established a training wing. Training may be delivered by the enterprise owner or by extra employed staff. It is a kind of training centre within an enterprise, hence TVET in companies.

Rapid Response Training (RRT): It is a form of Industry Based Training organised on a cost-sharing basis in order to facilitate investors willing and ready to invest in specialized or priority skills. The agreement is concluded with emerging investment opportunities at the same time being flexible to redirect specialized training to the need of investors who are constrained to acquire skilled personnel in specific sectors. At least 70% of graduates should be retained by the company that benefited from the training facility.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a process of acknowledging prior learning acquired in different contexts especially at work (like traditional apprenticeship) without considering how, when or where the learning occurred. The function of RPL is “to recognize and validate competencies of a certain individual obtained through formal, informal and non-formal training systems for the purpose of certification in conformity with national qualification framework”.

Source:    Guidelines on the Implementation of Workplace Learning Policy in Rwanda’ MIFOTRA, August 2021
Apprenticeships and forms of WPL are part of the overall TVET system, delivered through formal, non-formal, and informal models.⁶

Formal Apprenticeship

Formal apprenticeships are part of Rwanda’s WPL system and are governed through the 'National Policy on Workplace Learning to Prepare Rwandan Youth for Employment (Workplace Learning Policy) 2015.⁷  Together with internships, apprenticeships are legally governed by the 'Law regulating labour in Rwanda'.⁸  In August 2021, the Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) published ‘Guidelines on the Implementation of Workplace Learning Policy in Rwanda’ (WPL Guidelines) to promote the coordinated implementation of standardised quality WPL.⁹These guidelines have been introduced in an accompanying SIFA report and provide the context for the description of this tool.  

On a national level, the National Employment Programme (NEP) offered different types of WPL, including apprenticeship schemes. The Skills Development Fund (SDF)¹⁰  includes a focus on employer led apprenticeships, internships and short skills upgrading programmes. It is reported that the Hang Umurimo (Create Own Jobs) and Kuremera programmes, implemented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and MIFOTRA respectively through apprenticeship schemes, have led to 17,000 people finding employment.¹¹  Many of these apprenticeship initiatives are being delivered in cooperation with Rwanda TVET Board (RTB) and/or Rwanda Polytechnic managed TVET institutions. Alongside government WPL initiatives, a significant number of Rwanda’s formal apprenticeship programmes have been or are being implemented by development partner supported projects.

This context demonstrates the multiple stakeholders involved in the delivery of Rwanda’s apprenticeship and WPL programmes including through initiatives being implemented through Development Partners and national programmes. The result of WPL being delivered through different partners is that some programmes are conducted separately from the established TVET system and can be more focused on achieving project objectives than on facilitating the mainstreaming of apprenticeships. These, sometimes, disparate approaches have led to calls for a more standardised and collective approach to the delivery of WPL in Rwanda.

Informal apprenticeship

Due to crossovers and the need for brevity, this report will combine non-formal and informal WPL. As a rule, non-formal and informal TVET provision in Rwanda applies more directly to work-based learning elements than formal TVET. Informal apprenticeships are the main mode of vocational skills acquisition in Rwanda, which is a reflection of limitations in the formal TVET system in terms of capacity, relevance to the labour market and inability to provide trainees with practical employable competencies. These challenges are particularly prevalent in recently established public TVET institutions. These limitations speak to the need for additional quality assurance structures and guidelines to promote the capacity of the TVET sector to meet trainees’ and industry demands.

There is a lack of available up-to-date information on Rwanda’s informal apprenticeships, however, findings from 2006 and 2007 presented in the article ‘Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Rwanda’¹²  suggest that one-fifth of workers in both the informal and formal sectors gained vocational skills through informal apprenticeships offered within the construction, commerce, manufacturing, services, tailoring, driving, bricklaying (masonry) sectors. Informal apprenticeships are practised more in urban than rural areas and are more common for youth with lower education completion. Learning is often based on emerging and unstructured assignments including; observing, side-by-side learning that becomes incrementally more difficult as the apprentices master different tasks. The length of the informal apprenticeship period varied considerably from a few weeks to up to four years. Apprenticeships are defined through written or oral agreements, 23 per cent of apprentices paid a training fee while others were compensated by the enterprise. This corresponds to the finding that nearly 70 per cent of the employers were willing to pay part of the cost for training their employees.¹³  Despite the capacity of informal apprenticeships to offer training to a large number of trainees directed at immediate skills needs, it is a model that comes with significant limitations. There are concerns about quality as the apprentices may not be able to develop competencies beyond those held by the master craftsman, who themselves have gained their skills through informal apprenticeship. It also limits the opportunities for trainees to develop wider knowledge which is increasingly important as jobs become more technologically driven and fluid. These quality issues will have a negative impact on business productivity and innovation, and trainees’ long term sustainable transition to employment. Informal apprenticeships can also be defined by an absence of agreed training programmes and contractual arrangements between the master craftsperson and the apprentice.

The Tool: Industrial attachment guidelines and workplace learning logbook

Rationale

The delivery of WPL through multiple partners and often in informal/non-formal contexts, described in the previous section, has highlighted the need for the introduction of standards and guidelines that help to regulate and coordinate WPL practices. The need for guidelines for enhanced WPL is at both policy and provider level and the described tool is an example of how an institution, RP, has interpreted government policy to develop its practice.

The tool that this report highlights; ‘Industrial attachment guidelines and workplace learning logbook’ (‘logbook’), has been developed by Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) to support the practical application of the Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA), published with support from GIZ, ‘Guidelines on the Implementation of Workplace Learning Policy in Rwanda’ (WPL Guidelines).  The WPL guidelines, launched in August 2021, set out implementation standards for the Workplace Learning Policy in respect to Industrial Attachments, Internships and Dual Apprenticeships.¹⁴  They also provide general guidance of workplace practices (health and safety, inclusion etc.) and Industry Based Training (including Rapid Response Training) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): ‘The Workplace Learning guidelines outline the procedures that learners, training providers, employers, regulators, and partners must follow to ensure successful workplace learning implementation.’ The WPL guidelines initiative is also described as part of this wider SIFA study as an apprenticeship initiative.

The guidelines were designed to support the realisation of Rwanda’s ‘National Policy on Workplace Learning to Prepare Rwandan Youth for Employment’ (2015)¹⁵ , through promoting the realisation of the following objectives:

• To develop a modern, recognized and sustainable apprenticeship system in partnership with companies in the formal and informal sectors
• To improve systems and management of attachment and internship programmes
• To develop an institutional framework for the coordinated promotion, facilitation and implementation of workplace learning with strong private sector influence
• To create sustainable incentive structures for companies
• To create knowledge and public awareness about workplace learning

In summary, the MIFOTRA guidelines are an attempt to harmonise existing policies and standardise approaches across multiple stakeholders and delivery partners, towards a more coordinated and quality assured WPL model: ‘Despite the existing policies and laws, there is no specific guidelines established before to guide the implementation of workplace learning in Rwanda.’

Industrial attachment guidelines and workplace learning logbook

The presented tool, ‘industrial attachment guidelines and workplace logbook’, has been developed by Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) to support the practical implementation of WPL guidelines and activities conducted through its constituent colleges. RP vision is ‘to provide quality education that complies with applicable standards through vocational education that enables beneficiary to acquire skills required to create jobs and compete in the labour market’¹⁶  RP provides a harmonised governance and delivery structure for a national network of eight integrated polytechnic regional colleges (IPRC), which are afforded a degree of autonomy in their practices and processes within a defined RP framework and oversight. This means that there are some institutional variations between the colleges, however, these are conducted through standardised RP approaches. To this end, rather than present all 8 IPRC WPL guidelines, this paper will focus on the IPRC Ngoma ‘Industrial Attachment Guidelines’ (Appendix 1) document which is representative of the overall RP and IPRC approach. The IPRC Ngoma industrial attachment programme focus on management related placements is reflected in the presented guidelines but the presented features are applicable to wider WPL disciplines.  

The presented tool can be divided into two parts; firstly, an overview of WPL, in terms of: rationale, objectives, student expectations, and stakeholder (learner, employer, training provider) responsibilities. The use of the guidelines to describe key WPL concepts and rationale can be seen as an contribution to wider national policy objectives, including; ‘to create knowledge and public awareness about workplace learning’, ‘to develop a modern, recognized and sustainable apprenticeship system in partnership with companies in the formal and informal sectors’ and ‘to improve systems and management of attachment and internship programmes.’ The guideline and workplace learning logbook document also references wider WPL issues, referenced in the MIFOTRA guidelines, associated with areas such as occupational health and safety, including through referencing; ‘Take reasonable care of own health and safety and the health and safety of other people who may be affected by the student’s actions.’ It is interesting to note how RP is aligning the development of a practical training tool to reinforce and articulate wider national policy objectives.

The presented RP/IPRC guidelines are clearly aligned, as a practical interpretation, with the MIFOTRA implementation of WPL policy, for example, the similarities in guidelines for

The second part of the tool, ‘attachment report format’, is focused on the logging of learner activities and progression achieved during their industry attachment programmes. This includes through providing a template for the recording of; institutional and departmental information, progress against evaluation criteria and assessment forms (employer and learner). The use of a standard format for the reporting of WPL demonstrates how RP and its IPRCs are looking to realise the national strategic objective ‘to develop an institutional framework for the coordinated promotion, facilitation and implementation of workplace learning with strong private sector influence.’

The guidelines and workplace learning log book provide a shared understanding, between employers, learners and training providers, on the design, delivery and assessment of RP’s WPL placements. The tool also provides a template for the recording of outcomes, that will allow for a harmonised approach that supports the mapping of WPL to wider learning and qualification frameworks.  The tool can be seen as making a direct contribution to the objectives set out in Rwanda’s National WPL Policy and, in many ways, constitute the practical application of MIFOTRA’s WPL guidelines, whilst providing a tool for the development of effective industrial attachments.

• Demonstrates the practical application of national policy at an institutional and individual student level. This will ensure a degree of alignment between national WPL policy and practice.  
• Provides a framework that can be used by training providers and employers in the delivery of quality WPL industry attachments, especially in terms of training delivered in companies.
• Standardisation of WPL across RP’s different IPRCs and stakeholders, promoting a coordinated and harmonised approach. The standardisation of WPL will be enhanced through RP’s current development of a harmonised single industrial attachment template to be used across its IPRC network.
• Highlighting of roles in the delivery of WPL will provide stakeholders with enhanced confidence of their required responsibilities and input.
• Create a framework that facilitate the implementation of quality WPL, through:
  • Defining the objectives and rationale for quality WPL
  • Combining theoretical rationale for WPL with practical delivery
  • Clarifying responsibilities for industrial attachments in both work and educational contexts
• Emphasis that placements should reflect ‘real-life’ work experience will reinforce the value and quality of industrial attachments; ‘The student will be subject to the organization’s regulations and is expected to function like a full-time employee’
• Clear template for attachment reports will ensure that a consistent approach will be applied to reporting on learners’ progress and competency
• Embedding stakeholder perspectives into the reporting process will ensure that lessons learnt from the delivery of WPL will be fed into programme development. Although this consultative approach is a positive feature of the tool, thought will have to be applied in ensuring that stakeholders have sufficient training and confidence to articulate their feelings on WPL delivery and outcomes.
• The guidelines have been developed in consultation with employers which will promote their support for their application.

• The MIFOTRA guidelines establish basic incentives and conditions for WPL, for example, by stating that ‘An Intern or apprentice/student will be facilitated with a monthly stipend equivalent to fifty thousand Rwandan Francs (50,000 RWF/US£50) which will be provided by WPL funding intervention,’ and reference working conditions, termination terms and health and safety, and trainee wellbeing. However, the guidelines presented in the RP tool don’t set out clear recommendations for terms and conditions for industrial attachments. The focus is mainly on learning-based conditions and processes, which is to be expected from a training provider document rather than a government department, but demonstrates a potential limitation in the application of the MIFOTRA guidelines. This demonstrates the need for WPL guidelines that cover both the delivery and conditions of training.
• The guidelines could also include more details on the industry attachment application process, for example, CV templates, interview processes and role of IPRCs and employers in identifying WPL opportunities.
• The guidelines take a very prescriptive approach, clearly stating expectations on format for reporting. Whilst this will help to develop a harmonised model for WPL reporting, there could be a risk that some partners will find it cumbersome and time consuming. The introduction of further flexibility to represent individual learner and institution context could add some value.
• Some of the reporting sections, for example, ‘Evaluation of Industry Attachment’, have very open sections. There could be some additional value if these are further nuanced through, for example, the use of scales or examples, to help clarify the scope of reporting.
• The ‘Description of work done’ in the internship student daily report section is also very open and it could be possible to identify a list of set tasks for roles which could be ticked off to support ease of reporting of completed work.
• The guidelines set out roles and responsibilities for the delivery for WPL, however, there is a risk that some stakeholders will need further development for them to fulfil their allocated roles. For example, will TVET and employer instructors have the capacity to develop, deliver, monitor and assess apprenticeship programmes, as allocated in the guidelines or will stakeholders need further training and support to ensure they understand applicable reporting criteria.
• It would be valuable to have further information on how the implementation and impact of the guidelines will be monitored and measured. This could include implications if they aren’t followed, and how will they be reinforced by RP/IPRCs.

As part of this study, GOPA consultants met with Rwanda Polytechnic through its Careers Development and Guidance Specialist, Bonaventure Hakizimana, on 28.03.22 to discuss the rationale and impact of the guidelines. Mr Hakizimana emphasised the importance of harmonised WPL processes that could be applied across RP’s centres and training activities in ensuring the quality of provision and the capacity to map different programmes and learners. He also spoke about the need for RP to align with national policy initiatives being introduced to standardised WPL and this explains the parallels between MIFOTRA policy and RP practice. The use of shared approaches was also an important way to capacity build expertise across the RP college network through the development of a joint understanding of what good WPL looked like. The RP approach has supported input from both learners and employers, which ensures a broad understanding of progress and challenges. RP emphasised the importance of understanding employers’ feelings when assessing WPL outcomes and the value of developing them through a consultative approach with employers. The template for the reporting format was also highlighted as an important feature which is now being further developed into a single model to be used across all WPL programmes being conducted in RPs’ IPRC network.

On a practical level the guidelines and logbook format are a valuable platform for RP workplace monitoring visits through providing a framework for meetings and discussions. There is a need for ongoing stakeholder capacity building to ensure that they are comfortable in utilising the guidelines and applying them in the delivery, assessment and reporting of WPL. Although the tool is valuable, its full effective application is dependent of practitioners’ capacity to utilise its features.