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This edited collection examines the various meanings of skill that have developed in South Africa. It addresses four core questions. What role can skill play in building a better future for the nation? How can skill play a role in developing higher skills for all? What is already being done in terms of skill development and will it work? Why is skill understood in the way that it is now? The chapters are: The shifting understandings of skills in South Africa since industrialisation / Simon McGrath; Technical and vocational education provision in South Africa from 1920 to 1970 / Azeem Badroodien; Training policies under late apartheid: the historical imprint of a low skills regime / Andre Kraak; Agricultural and industrial curricula for South African rural schools: colonial origins and contemporary continuities / Andrew Paterson; High skills: the concept and its application to South Africa / David N. Ashton; The National Skills Development Strategy: a new institutional regime for skills formation in post-apartheid South Africa / Andre Kraak; Understanding the size of the problem: the National Skills Development Strategy and enterprise training in South Africa / Azeem Badroodien; The state of the South African further education and training college sector / Simon McGrath; A future curriculum mandate for further education and training colleges: recognising intermediate knowledge and skill / Jeanne Gamble; Skills development for enterprise development: a major challenge for 'joined-up' policy / Simon McGrath; Rethinking the high skills thesis in South Africa / Andre Kraak; Towards economic prosperity and social justice: can South Africa show the way for policy-making on skills? / Lorna Unwin.

Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 82.52 to TD/TNC 82.62. Show less

In July 2005, President Mbeki announced the launch of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), a new development strategy designed to help the South African state meet the ANC’s 2004 election pledges, namely: halve unemployment; halve poverty; accelerate employment equity; and improve broad-based black economic empowerment. AsgiSA outlines a very different development path from the current orthodoxy of the Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers in spite of the common commitment to halving poverty. This difference in approach encompasses the education and skills sector, where post-basic provision is given considerable attention. This paper seeks to explore why South Africa has taken this different approach, especially in education and skills development. It examines what the current evidence tells us about the strategy’s likely success. Finally, it briefly considers the implications this case might have for the dominant model of African education and development.

Published abstract reprinted from ‘International journal of educational development’, copyright 2007, with permission from Elsevier. Show less

This chapter contributes to a critical analysis of South Africa's current skills development strategy (indexed at TD/TNC 75.378) and the prospects for successfully upskilling the population. In South Africa, a large proportion of current and future employment will occur in smaller, less formal enterprises. Skill upgrading in the informal economy will need to be a key element of a national skills strategy. The link between skills development and enterprise development strategies will therefore be of significance to South Africa's attempts to reform its skills development pathway. The author investigates whether there is evidence of policy coherence in relation to the issue of skills development for enterprise development. The analysis highlights the extent to which policy incoherence interferes with delivery and the potential to solve these issues.

The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/IRD 88.273. Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 82.52 to TD/TNC 82.62. Show less

Skills development is one of the barriers to enterprises employing ten or less workers, that is very small and micro enterprises (VSMEs), potentialy making important contributions to meeting South Africa's targets for reducing poverty and unemployment and increasing broad-based economic empowerment. Nonetheless, in this volume, which draws together two studies for the South African Department of Labour, a picture of the dynamism of many such firms emerges. Considerable learning is going on amongst the highly diverse VSME population and the challenge for the state lies in how to support what is already going on. The chapters are as follows: The existing state of knowledge about very small and micro enterprises in South Africa / Simon McGrath; Experiences from the rest of Africa / Simon McGrath; Two methodological approaches to researching the VSME sector / Simon McGrath; The VSME component of the National Skills Survey / Simon McGrath and Johan Martins; Skills acquisition patterns among very small and micro enterprises (the NSF study) / Simon McGrath and Bees Development Organisation; Lessons for policy and practice / Simon McGrath. Show less

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) was a central tool of development cooperation from the 1950s through to the 1980s. However, with the rise of education for all in the 1990s, TVET ‘fell from grace’. At the beginning of the 21st century, there is a growing interest among development cooperation agencies in the importance of skills development, a broader concept that has come to replace TVET in agency thinking. This article considers the ways in which work and employment have changed in the last decade or so across the South, and the challenges this brings for skills development. It then examines the nature of skills development in current agency formulations. Finally, it links these to the main elements of the changing overall trends in development cooperation and its implications for those involved in skills development work.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The facilitator’s notes are an outline for lecturers teaching the ‘Drawing bridging course’. The aim of this ten week course is to improve the basic drawing skills of those wishing to obtain entry into further vocational art/design studies. Show less

This material has been developed for use by facilitators/lecturers for the module 'Keyboard mastery'. The module aims to develop keyboard skills to touch type accurately, applying ergonomic principles. Topics include: ergonomics, which equipment?, workstation set up, basic equipment knowledge, touch typing, accuracy and speed development and speed tests. Show less

This learning activities material has been developed for use within the module 'Keyboard mastery'. Topics include: ergonomics; basic equipment knowledge; workstation set up; touch typing; accuracy and speed development - error analysis record; and speed tests - speed and accuracy record, calculation of speed, calculation of percentage accuracy. Show less

The UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education imagines a positive future in which skills development can be harnessed for the benefits of people and planet, in line with the loftiest vision of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, skills systems often remain marginalized within educational debates and plans, with vocational learning often dismissed as low quality and low status.

Reflecting on the work done for the commission on future skills, this article considers the nature of the challenges of the present in building better skills futures for Africa. It argues that we must be clear-sighted regarding the failings of past theory and practice if, together, we are to construct better futures for learning, working, and living. Only then can we develop institutions, programmes, and curricula that can meet the challenges and realize the opportunities of the future.

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This material has been developed for use within the module 'Garment planning'. This module provides the techniques required to plan and sequence the assembly of a garment. These areas include layout of patterns on a variety of fabrics and widths; fabric estimation; secondary items; costing; and the garment assembly sequencing. Topics include: horizontal stripe T-shirt with set-in sleeves; simple faced top; trousers - corduroy/velveteen; blouse with vertical stripes; skirt - checks and plaids (balanced); skirt - fully flared and tucked; and blouse using checks and plaids. Show less