Practical matters: what young people think about vocational education in South Africa

In discourses around vocational education and training (VET) students are seen, but not heard, particularly in developing country contexts. Using student focus groups in three South African provinces from schools and VET institutions (further education and training (FET) colleges), this study aims to introduce student voices into the discourse, with a key focus on student views of vocational education. VET is for many a non-traditional form of education and is often invisible to school-going students. This is despite the massive dropout rate from traditional pathways of school to university. However, whilst students sociologically associate VET with lower status employment, both school students and college students see VET epistemologically and pedagogically as a superior form of education.

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