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Since the 1990s, there has been a growing sense from both national policymakers and international agencies of the importance of private technical and vocational education and training and skills provision in all regions. This pri-VET sector both through traditional apprenticeship forms and more formal sector oriented approaches have become an essential feature of the contemporary landscape. It is, however, a sector that is largely undocumented and its regulation is thus based on a less than nuanced understanding of its contribution to both the education and training system in general and as a complement to public TVET provisioning. The paper will seek to identify key features of the key trends of what is known about private TVET provision in Africa with a view to understanding the complexity of provision forms and its current importance in the region. It is argued that for this 'unconventional education and training' form to take its place in national systems, there is a need for more rigorous research of the sector to ensure that it is able to take its rightful place in national systems. It is expected that this will enable a more thorough examination of regulatory mechanisms used by governments.

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South Africa has no clearly identifiable vocational education and training in schools component in its education and training system. To enter the labour market, school leavers need considerable post-school pre-employment education and training. Private technical and vocational education and training (TVET) providers provide an important avenue for this training. The author explores the reasons for the competitive advantage of non-state education and training providers to attract pre-employed learners. The paper is based on a 2006 study by the author [indexed at TD/TNC 81.538] into provision patterns of private TVET providers in South Africa. It begins with an assessment of the socioeconomic development context in South Africa and of provision patterns of the private TVET sector. The author then uses an alternative typological categorisation and notions of responsiveness and receptiveness to examine features of provision that assist the post-school learner in accessing the labour market.

This article is part of a thematic edition of Vocal entitled 'What works for vocational education and training in schools in terms of developing connections, building capacity and enhancing collaboration'. Articles are indexed from TD/TNC 94.144 to TD/TNC 94.150 and from TD/TNC 94.264 to TD/TNC 95.276. Show less

This paper explores the extent to which latest developments in the technical and vocational education and training [TVET] system in South Africa respond to key principles espoused for a developmental, democratic and inclusionary ideal. The White Paper for post school education and training (DHET, 2013) approved by Cabinet in November, 2013 is referred to by the Minister as the 'definitive statement of the governments vision for the post school system' (DHET, 2013, p.4) and as such represents a crucial strategy document intended to chart the TVET direction to 2030. Using key theoretical constructs from development theory, this paper provides an assessment of the TVET strategy contained in the [white] paper and explores the extent to which it does respond to the agenda defined by the promise. It is argued that the challenges outlined are not yet able to provide the blueprint for a TVET transformative vision. It is concluded that while the development rhetoric contained in the paper is plausible, the creative tinkering of the system is unlikely to lead to the radical revisioning necessary for a truly transformative TVET system. The underlying assumptions regarding purpose, impact and outcome will need to be carefully reconsidered if the system is to be responsive to the promises of the democratic developmental ideal to which the government is committed.

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This document provides information about the private provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in the further education and training (FET) band in the South African education system. It is the first study to identify empirical data about the participants, the location and the ownership of institutions, the programs offered, and the delivery of private TVET in South Africa. This data is supplemented by a qualitative analysis using select case studies to explore the character of the sector. The first part of the document explores the background and methodology of the study and part two discusses the findings of both quantitative and qualitative components of the study, and the extent to which the sector engages with the human resource needs of the country. Findings are discussed in relation to: (1) the institutional landscape, i.e. distribution, types of providers, and institutional growth; (2) the learner profile, i.e. types of learners, enrolments, race and gender profile, age and employment status, and employment aspirations; (3) programs, i.e. types of provision by South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) field, program duration, content, delivery, assessment, quality and legislation, admission requirements, and proportion of initial or continuous TVET; and (4) the personnel profile, i.e. employment status, formal educational qualifications, race and gender, and occupational stratification ('blurring' or 'specialisation'). The findings indicate a energetic sector underpinned by differentiation in provision type with considerable overlap in how providers are managed and how programs are delivered. Show less

Skills development is critical to South Africa's development. It has been argued that South Africa's twin post-Apartheid challenges, poverty and unemployment requires a level of skills development not undertaken before (RSA, 2008a; ANC, 2007). The creation of a separate ministry, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), which has incorporated institutional entities from former Ministries of Education and Labour has engendered an expectation for the realisation of a co-ordinated and integrated post-school education and training system. The establishment of this entity for the first time anticipates a coherent response to the education, training and skills development challenges faced by the country. The initial anticipation that this development will provide the basis for a coherent post-school education, training and skills development system, that is responsive to national development encapsulated by the notion of inclusive growth, have waned somewhat. In an attempt to link education and labour market more deliberately, it attempts to respond to both the education and labour market constituencies for greater synergy. The reality of success of a new institutional structure, within a wider structure embedded in the older pre-merged configuration, has proved more difficult than anticipated. The notion of 'policy as boundary object' is considered a critical missing element in the current re-positioning and the changed political circumstances represent a golden moment to do things differently. This paper explores the current structural re-configuration, as it has, and is likely to, impact on the skills development provisioning in the country. In particular, it focuses on the impact of current developments on the delivery of intermediate level skills, and the likely role of the beleaguered public [further education and training] FET colleges (FETCs) in this regard. Whilst it is accepted that the current development is new and unlikely to have a track record, the current context is critically evaluated in terms of the potentials and challenges identified against the empirical experience of ten years of skills development in the country.

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National attention on the role of skills development has focused on the role of further education and training (FET) colleges in providing intermediate-level education and training necessary to meet the South African national development challenge. In particular, attention has been focused on reorganisation and rationalisation of college structures: through infrastructural development using recapitalisation funds; by curriculum renewal; and by proposing to boost learner enrolment to more than a million learners by 2014. The changes presuppose that college lecturers, as key strategic players, are a well-motivated and an effective component of the college system ready to take on these challenges. This paper considers that this may not necessarily be the case. Some attention has been paid to them in passing in the South African literature on FET colleges, and a report on ‘staffing challenges’ commissioned by the national department provided important information as to their form and composition. Very little consideration has, however, been paid to the implications of the latest legislation on FET colleges. This paper examines the origins and impacts of these latest policy proposals on college lecturers. It examines the legislation in light of the international evidence and proposes that the latest devolution of employment responsibility to governing bodies, although in line with international trends, is less likely to be a positive development.

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Apprenticeship has made a comeback in the national discourse. Mid-level skills development has been placed at the centre of the South African post-school education and training system since 2010. Artisanal skills development, through an apprenticeship route in particular, have been firmly re-established and given heightened attention. This paper explores the origins of the current system and whether South Africa is on the right track in resolving its associated challenges in light of the current socio-economic and labour market context.

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The idea of integration of education and training is an especially powerful one in postapartheid South Africa. However, the focus on qualifications, instead of institutions, as the major lever of reform, is not as straightforward as it appears (Young 2001). The notion of transformation and integration is underpinned by issues of redress, access and equality. Integral to this transformative thrust, is the need to include a workplace experience component to be undertaken in terms of qualifications. This was in essence intrinsic to the implementation of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), perceived to be a means by which to achieve seamless articulation between education and training, as well as between occupational, vocational and professional qualification development. We claim that the notion of qualification-led change has not succeeded and that turbulent economic conditions merely highlight its shortcomings. Although a multitude of qualifications have been developed and registered on the NQF since its implementation, issues about the design of the qualifications (how they were developed) and how the training and assessment against these qualifications materialised, appear to have had a limited impact on access, redress, equality and recognition of workplace experience. Thus is it not surprising that qualification-led change has not effectively translated into real transformation. We suggest that the current political changes may provide opportunities to ensure that a very different and meaningful development path is forged.

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In this working paper, the rationale for a focus on post-basic education and training (PBET) as a major tool in poverty reduction in South Africa is explored. This requires a consideration of the specific pattern of development of South Africa through colonialism, apartheid and 10 years of democracy in order to better understand the nature of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Such an analysis also needs links to be made between the broader issues of underdevelopment and inequity and the evolution of education and training over the last century. Although there is a clear commitment across government to developing the skills that are required for faster employment growth, it is apparent that South Africa faces very serious challenges in achieving its goals. Whether in delivering transfer payments, broader services or skills interventions, the state and other actors such as non-government organisations (NGOs) are in urgent need of skills development themselves in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work.

This paper is a part of a six-country study entitled 'Beyond the basics: education and poverty: the contribution of post-basic education and training (PBET) to poverty reduction: evidence from South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa', which was funded by the UK Department for International Development. The other country studies cover Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, India and Tanzania. Individual reports are indexed from TD/TNC 96.229 to TD/TNC 96.234. Show less

Access to higher education is a key challenge of the 21st century state. The link between higher education and personal and socio-economic development has intensified the need for ensuring that greater numbers of citizens have expanded access to and have been provided with quality higher education. The article seeks to explore how initiatives for increased access to higher education are experienced in India, Brazil and South Africa [IBSA]. As signatories to the IBSA declaration in the spirit of South-South cooperation, the three countries have publicly declared their commitment to enhance equity by, for example, widening access to higher education. We review the way in which the three countries have implemented key equity initiatives and draw lessons from their practice. Notions of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘efficiency’ are used to understand the extent to which each of the individual systems is responsive to the equity agenda. We find that while there have been notable attempts to implement the equity agenda in the quest for making their systems more ‘socially effective’, this is countervailed by a more pervasive ‘efficiency’ doctrine, underpinned by a market-driven economic paradigm. It is concluded that the innovative practices in each of the countries suggest important strides in the equity agenda but also that much still remains to be done. While the article represents a starting point for the much-vaunted South-South collaboration, tentative findings suggest that a more deliberately articulated policy framework characterized by greater inclusion of those previously excluded is necessary in each of the countries if significant and sustainable development is to be achieved.

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