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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

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

The aim of this publication is to develop and share knowledge regarding the challenges faced by vocational education and training (VET) systems within the southern African region and the responses to these challenges. It examines the complexities through a unique comparative study of seven countries in southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. The chapters are: The multiple context of vocational education and training in southern Africa / Simon McGrath; Botswana: united in purpose, diverse in practice / Salim Akoojee; Lesotho: the uphill journey to development / Thomas Magau; Mauritius: 'the Singapore of Africa'?: skills for a global island / Anthony Gewer; Mozambique: towards rehabilitation and transformation / Nimrod Mbele; Namibia: repositioning vocational education and training / Mahlubi Mabizela; South Africa: skills development as a tool for social and economic development / Salim Akoojee, Anthony Gewer and Simon McGrath; The Kingdom of Swaziland: escaping the colonial legacy / Jennifer Roberts; Key issues and challenges for transformation / Simon McGrath.

Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 85.254 to TD/TNC 85.262. Show less

In South Africa the technical college sector has often been characterised by critics as performing poorly in terms of labour market placement of graduates. Three studies were commissioned by the Joint Education Trust (now JET Education Services) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to address the issue of the responsiveness of technical colleges to labour market conditions. This book presents the findings of the three studies. Technical college responsiveness is gauged through a multiple focus on the perceptions of graduates, colleges and employers and local labour conditions. As well, the findings are set in a broader context of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) elsewhere in Africa, in the UK and in Australia.

Individual chapters include: Being responsive: colleges, communities and ‘stakeholders’ / Lorna Unwin; Researching responsiveness / Simon McGrath; Graduate tracer study / Michael Cosser; Employer satisfaction / Botshabelo Maja and Simon McGrath; Local labour environments and FET colleges: three case studies / Azeem Badroodien; Letters from technical college graduates / Michael Cosser; Building college responsiveness in South Africa / Simon McGrath. Show less

This publication is one of a series of Education Papers issued from time to time by the Education Division of the Department for International Development. Each paper represents a study or commissioned research on some aspect of education and training in developing countries. In the 1990s there has been increased interest in the informal sector, which is linked to a complex set of factors. Awareness of these factors has led governments to take much more interest in the informal sector than over the previous two decades. A new awareness by Southern governments of the size and diversity of the workers and owners in the informal sector can be seen in conjunction with increasing emphasis on market forces and entrepreneurship emanating from the North, and mediated from the development assistance community.

The first volume of this publication examines local, national and international interventions and initiatives aimed at promoting education and training in the informal sector. This report discusses the ways in which education and training currently, and in the future can prepare individuals for sustainable informal sector activities. Chapter one provides an overview of the rationale and structure of the report. Chapters two four examine the three different sites for interventions aimed at the informal sector (formal and nonformal education, post school and out-of-school vocational training institutions, and the workplace or the enterprise itself). Chapter five discusses the problems faced by girls and women in entering forms of really productive self-employment, as opposed to situations in which the aims are barely an improvement upon subsistence or survival work in the informal sector. In Chapter six, the authors examine some of the other elements that are often associated with informal sector development. The authors illustrate ways of thinking about interventions in the informal sector that may take account of several quite distinct pathways.

The second volume consists of a series of four case studies on Chile, Ghana, India and Kenya outlining the structure of education in each country. There is also a comprehensive bibliography in this volume, which highlights the vast amount of resources available on the informal sector. This volume consists of the following chapters: Chapter one: Rationale and structure of report; Chapter two: Education and the informal sector; Chapter three: Post-school and out-of-school training; Chapter four: Enterprise based training; Chapter five: Women and training for the informal sector; Chapter six: What are the needs of the informal sector.

Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 62.214 to TD/TNC 62.221. Show less

This handbook considers the changing worlds of work to which vocational education and training (VET) must respond, as well as insisting that VET should not be narrowly seen to cater only for the formal economy. Issues of economies of care, the challenge of sustainability, planning, and finance are considered, as are the rise of private provision and the role of training in enterprises of varying sizes. The handbook also considers the evolving nature of vocational learning and how this intersects with curriculum and instruction, with a particular emphasis on the major debates about competence that have characterized the field for a quarter century. Since learning cannot be considered in isolation from teaching or the education of teachers and instructors, this is another strand of the handbook that flows into discussions on the measurement of both instruction and learning. While the learning-teaching relationship is of key importance, recent years have seen growing interest in questions of wider learner support and the handbook also contains a section on this issue. The handbook contains almost 100 chapters from an international group of authors, addressing issues from the perspective of small-scale and detailed empirical work through to national and comparative surveys. The handbook is also future-focused in identifying promising new directions in research and development.

Edited excerpt from publication.

The contents of volume one are as follows: Part one, 'The changing world of work', edited by Margarita Pavlova and Salim Akoojee, contains the following chapters: Skills forecasts in a rapidly changing world: through a glass darkly / Rob Wilson (pages 3-21); TVET teaching in the time of digitization / Mike Douse and Philip Uys (pages 23-38); Skill India: new skills development initiatives in India / Anita Sharma and Kenneth King (pages 39-61); Information and communication technologies (ICT) in VET in Russia: new developments / Tatiana Dobrydina, Nadezhda Usvyat, and Tatiana Shipilova (pages 63-77); The international quality competition and its implications for vocational education and training / Felix Rauner (pages 79-101); Informal economies, work-based learning, and sustainable national skills development in Africa / Salim Akoojee (pages 103-120); Innovation skills in apprentice training / Ludger Deitmer (pages 121-137); Challenges to agency in workplaces and implications for VET: mechatronics artisans in the automotive sector in South Africa / Angelique Wildschut and Glenda Kruss (pages 139-157); Migrants in the labor market: implications for TVET / Joyceline Alla-Mensah, Haya Fakoush, Simon McGrath, and Volker Wedekind (pages 159-175); The Fourth Industrial Revolution: trends and impacts on the world of work / Sang Yun Kim (pages 177-194); Greening of the economy through partnerships: issues and impacts on skills development / Margarita Pavlova (pages 195-218). Part two, 'Skills for sustainable human development', edited by Lesley Powell, contains: Transformative learning in English further education / Vicky Duckworth and Rob Smith (pages 221-236); Analyzing PIAAC through the capability approach / Aurora Lopez-Fogues and Rosario Scandurra (pages 237-257); Skills development and TVET policies in South Africa: the human capabilities approach / Siphelo Ngcwangu (pages 259-272); Vocational education and training beyond human capital: a capability approach / Jean-Michel Bonvin (pages 273-289); Enabling vocational lecturer capacities toward sustainable human development: toward radical revisioning / Kathija Yassim, Neville Rudman, and Lucky Maluleke (pages 291-308); Making a life: doing, radical humanism, and agency / David Balwanz (pages 309-322); VET contribution to human development within a context of marginalization: the case of Palestine / Randa Hilal (pages 323-350); Gaining more than just vocational skills: evaluating women learners' aspirations through the capability approach / Rebecca Suart (pages 351-367); Capability or employability: orientating VET toward 'real work' / Lesley Powell and Simon McGrath (pages 369-392); A capability approach to entrepreneurship education: fostering recognition and community care to address inequalities for marginalized youth / Joan DeJaeghere (pages 393-411); A political-economy orientation in TVET's project-based learning methodologies for sustainable development / Emilia Szekely (pages 413-429.

Part three, 'Planning and reforming skills systems', edited by Robert Palmer, contains the following chapters: Financing technical and vocational skills development reform / Robert Palmer (pages 433-454); TVET reform and qualifications frameworks: what is known about what they can and can't do? / Stephanie Allais (pages 455-472); TVET financing and employer's ownership in skills training for an emerging workforce / Santosh Mehrotra and Ashutosh Pratap Singh (pages 473-489); Governance of labor market and skills intelligence as driver of VET reform / Konstantinos Pouliakas and Antonio Ranieri (pages 491-511); Role of ICT in enhancing scale, quality, and reach of TVET in India / Ajay Balakrishnan, Srividya Sheshadri, Akshay Nagarajan, R. Unnikrishnan, Sreeram Kongeseri, and Rao R. Bhavani (pages 513-531); National policy framework development for workplace-based learning in South Africa / Ronel Blom (pages 533-549); Integrating work-based learning into formal VET: towards a global diffusion of apprenticeship training and the dual model? / Markus Maurer (pages 551-567); Careers guidance and job placement services: the missing link between education and employment / Muriel H. Dunbar (pages 569-584); Financing skills for work in post-2015: mobilizing the private sector / Ana Rosa Gonzalez-Martinez and Ben Gardiner (pages 585-602); Enhancing permeability between vocational and tertiary education through corporate learning / Thomas Schroeder and Peter Dehnbostel (pages 603-625); Vocational student organizations and student success / Chris Zirkle and Jeremy Jeffery (pages 627-643); Skill mismatch research: skill dimensions in vocational education and training / Seung Il Na (pages 645-673). Part four, 'Private training markets', edited by Michael Gessler, Larissa Holle, and Susanne Peters, contains: Concepts of apprenticeship: strengths, weaknesses, and pitfalls / Michael Gessler (pages 677-709); Executive learning and development / Marco Sampietro (pages 711-728); Informal workplace learning: turning the workplace into a learning site / Heta Rintala, Petri Nokelainen, and Laura Pylvas (pages 729-742); Antecedents of team learning distilled from both qualitative and quantitative research / Renate Wesselink (pages 743-764); Human resources management and human resources development / Jurgen Radel (pages 765-787); Governing adult education policy development in Europe: a critical appraisal of the renewed agenda for adult learning / Marcella Milana and Gosia Klatt (pages 789-812); The changing role of the corporate trainer: the shift from 'training' to 'talent development' / William J. Rothwell, Jae Young Lee, and Patricia Macko (pages 813-827); Public education institutions as providers of private training programs: degree apprenticeships in the United Kingdom / John P. Wilson (pages 829-845); Motivation and engagement of learners in organizations / Christof Nagele and Barbara E. Stalder (pages 847-861); Technical and vocational education and training in small- and medium-sized enterprises: a critical overview / Harry Matlay and Rob F. Poell (pages 863-875); Inclusion of unemployed people at social risk and private training markets in Ireland, Portugal, and Spain / Jesus A. Aleman Falcon and Maria A. Calcines Pinero (pages 877-900); The Brazilian vocational education and training 'nonsystem': the alliance between public funding and private management / Elenice M. Leite (pages 901-922); E-learning at the workplace / Graham Attwell (pages 923-947).

The contents of volume two are as follows: Part five, 'Vocational learning', edited by Karen Evans and Natasha Kersh, contains the following chapters: Vocational learning: fresh perspectives / Karen Evans (pages 951-962); Shaping occupational biography and working conditions: a pedagogical principle in different VET systems / Gerald Heidegger and Wiebke Petersen (pages 963-982); Students' vocational learning: enabling conditions for putting knowledge to work / Maria Gustavsson and Daniel Persson Thunqvist (pages 983-1000); Older workers' vocational learning: taking activities and personal senses into account / Maria-Cristina Migliore (pages 1001-1018); Creativity development and vocational learning / Antje Barabasch (pages 1019-1035); Working and learning from a Bernsteinian perspective / Sai Loo (pages 1037-1052); Developments in research on vocational learning: a perspective from China / Yujing Li and Dayong Yuan (pages 1053-1070); Facilitating lifelong learning through vocational education and training: promoting inclusion and opportunities for young people in the UK / Natasha Kersh and Nathalie Huegler (pages 1071-1087); Past and present developments in vocational learning in Eastern Europe: the case of Hungary / Andrea Laczik and Eva Farkas (pages 1089-1105); Cultural diversity and vocational education and training / Marianne Teras (pages 1107-1119); Knowledge, practice, and workplace learning / Jim Hordern (pages 1121-1134); Generalizing from qualitative research: a reconceptualization based on vocational learning examples / John Guenther and Ian H. Falk (pages 1135-1152). Part six, 'Competence and excellence', edited by R. Kirby Barrick, contains: Competence and excellence in vocational education and training / R. Kirby Barrick (pages 1155-1166); Foundations of competence-based vocational education and training / Martin Mulder (pages 1167-1192); Attributes of vocational excellence / Murari Suvedi and Ramjee Ghimire (pages 1193-1204); Recognizing and developing vocational excellence through skills competitions / Susan James Relly and Ewart Keep (pages 1205-1217); Competency proficiency scaling / Vidmantas Tutlys, Jonathan Winterton, and Giuseppe Tacconi (pages 1219-1238); Skills competitions for promoting vocational excellence / Petri Nokelainen, Laura Pylvas, and Heta Rintala (pages 1239-1250); Educating for vocational excellence / Ruhi Tyson (pages 1251-1266); Twenty-first century skills / Catherine A. DiBenedetto (pages 1267-1281); Intercultural competence: toward global understanding / Laura Pylvas and Petri Nokelainen (pages 1283-1295).

Part seven, 'Measuring learning and instructional performance', edited by Esther Winther, contains the following chapters: A conceptual framework for authentic competence assessment in VET: a logic design model / Viola Deutscher and Esther Winther (pages 1299-1312); Assessing learning outcomes in vocational education / Hamish Coates (pages 1313-1328); Performance-based tests: using role plays to assess communication skills / Edith Braun, Ulrike Schwabe, and Daniel Klein (pages 1329-1338); Competence-based tests: measurement challenges of competence development in vocational education and training / Christian Michaelis and Susan Seeber (pages 1339-1358); Self-assessment for learning in vocational education and training / Ernesto Panadero, Daniel Garcia, and Juan Fraile (pages 1359-1370); Assessment through simulated conversations: applications in medical and teacher education / Johannes Bauer, Martin Gartmeier, and Anne B. Wiesbeck (pages 1371-1387); Self-assessment and self-reflection to measure and improve self-regulated learning in the workplace / Mariette H. van Loon (pages 1389-1408); Electronic portfolios enhanced with learning analytics at the workplace / Marieke van der Schaaf (pages 1409-1428); Spelling assessment, learning, and instruction in VET / Tessa Daffern (pages 1429-1444); Professional competence assessment diagnostics as an instrument for quality assurance in TVET / Zhiqun Zhao and Yingyi Zhou (pages 1445-1467). Part eight, 'Supporting learners', edited by Joy Papier, contains: Realizing standards of practice in VET / Maggie Gregson and Brian Todd (pages 1471-1492); Supporting vocational and technical learning in post-16 education in England / Jaswinder K. Dhillon (pages 1493-1506); Competence diagnostics and competency development in vocational education and training / Felix Rauner (pages 1507-1534); Supporting TVET learners' success with peer-facilitated learning and active citizenship / Nick Zepke (pages 1535-1547); Vocational diversification and influences of social class and gender in educational decision-making: the case of University Technical Colleges in England / Ann-Marie Bathmaker (pages 1549-1564); Development of occupational competence in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college students: role of assessment feedback / Patricia Jacobs (pages 1565-1579); Student support structures for transitioning from vocational to university education: a South African case study / Seamus Needham (pages 1581-1592); Systematizing student support services in TVET colleges: progressing from policy / Joy Papier and Tim McBride (pages 1593-1607).

Part nine, 'VET teacher/trainer education', edited by Volker Wedekind, contains the following chapters: Vocational teachers' knowledge, experiences, and pedagogy / Sai Loo (pages 1611-1625); The importance of VET teacher professionalism: an Australian case study / Erica Smith (pages 1627-1648); Professional development of vocational teachers in Zimbabwe: the past, present, and future / Chenjerai Muwaniki and Volker Wedekind (pages 1649-1665); Teachers' resilience in vocational education and training (VET) / Viviana Sappa, Elena Boldrini, and Antje Barabasch (pages 1667-1684); Vocational teacher preparation: the United States / Chris Zirkle (pages 1685-1700); TVET teachers in the changing world: the case of Russia / Anna Muraveva and Olga Oleynikova (pages 1701-1715); Vocational teachers and in-company trainers in Mexico: under-trained and under pressure / Kristina Wiemann (pages 1717-1731); Teacher training education for VET teachers in India / Matthias Pilz and Uma Gengaiah (pages 1733-1746); Vocational school teacher education in Switzerland: roles, responsibilities, and training / Anna Keller and Antje Barabasch (pages 1747-1767); Pedagogical issues in vocational teachers' learning: the importance of teacher development / Janet Hamilton Broad (pages 1769-1786); VET practitioner education in Australia: issues and approaches / Hugh Guthrie and Roger Harris (pages 1787-1805) [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 136.118]. Show less

Internationally, donors are increasing their emphasis on poverty-focused policies and on the notion of pro-poor growth. This publication examines key elements of the debate about small and micro enterprises (SMEs) from the perspective of the current poverty-growth debate and in the specific context of Africa. Contributing authors consider issues such as the effect of the macroeconomic climate on small enterprise development, the effectiveness of enterprises, and policies and programs to support them, and the impact of education on enterprise performance. The introductory chapter 'Enterprise in Africa: new contexts; renewed challenges' is by Simon McGrath and Kenneth King. Part one attempts to situate the subsequent debates about the SME sector in broader contexts of macro-economic prospects, trade patterns, and political disputes. The chapters are: Have Africa's economies turned the corner? / Tony Killick; Developmental states and small enterprises / Thandika Mkandawire; Gender, property rights and trade: constraints to Africa growth / Susan Joekes. Part two examines the overall structure and internal dynamics of the SME sector and the chapters are: MSEs tackle both poverty and growth (but in differing proportions) / Donald C. Mead; Micro-enterprises in West Africa / Jacques Charmes; Small enterprise development in post-apartheid South Africa / Christian M. Rogerson; Inherent gender inequities in small and micro-enterprise development in rural Africa / Fra Von Massow; Enterprise development in Africa: strategies for impact and growth / George Manu. Part three explores linkages, clusters and associations amongst enterprises in the sector and contains the following chapters: Do SMEs network for growth? / Abigail Barr; Enterprise clusters in Africa: linkages for growth and development / Dorothy McCormick; Trading agents and other producer services in African industrialization and globalization / Poul Ove Pedersen; MSE associations and enterprise promotion in Africa / Hans Christiaan Haan. Part four discusses the potential role of education, training and technology in SME development. The chapters are: Technology, NGOs and small enterprises: securing livelihoods through technical change / Andy Jeans; Competences and other factors affecting the small enterprise sector in Ibadan, Nigeria / Susanna Adam; Reshaping vocational training: hopeful signs from a Ghanaian experience / Lawrence A. Honny; The role and potential of technical and vocational education in formal education systems in Africa / Bonaventure Wanjala Kerre; Learning to grow?: the importance of education and training for small and micro-enterprise development / Simon McGrath and Kenneth King.

Selected chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 67.246 to TD/TNC 67.249. Show less