SectorEducationand TrainingAuthorities

1 SectorEducationandTrainingAuthoritiesSec torEducationandTrainingAuthoritiesInt rod uction SETA stands for Sector Edu catio nand Train ing Autho rity. Th ese or ga nisationswere re-estab lished by the Min iste rofLabour, Memb ath isi Mdla dlana,on 3Ma SETAs?The Nat ion al Skill sDevelo pme nt Strategy (NSDS )has as its:Visi onSkills for sustainablegro wth, de velo pm ent and eq Nat ion al Skill sDevelo pme nt Strategy (NSDS )contr ibute sto su stain abledevelopm ent of skills, growth andequity of skills deve lopm ent institu tion sbyaligning their work and resour ce sto the skills nee ds for effe ctive delive ry cato rGovernment and its social partne rs assess the contributio n o f the NSDS inst itutions and resources to the na tionally agreed stra teg y for g ro wth , development an d eq m any South Africans are optimistic about the futu re n ot o ne of them is inany doubt about the challen ge s an d problems that will h ave to be ove rcome if thisvision is to be are milli ons o f people who ne ed to lea rn new skills.

2 Some a re alre ady injobs who need to improve their skills and to learn new ones. Eac h ye ar there arethousands of young people who finish their education a nd a re loo kin g fo r than 50% of Grade 12 lea rn er s leave school without ba sic skills to seekwork. They need skills and trainin g. There ar e nearly million peo ple who ar eunempl oyed. Most of them have few skills and little tra ining . Th ere is a n estimatedfigure of between 6 000 and 7 00 0 unemployed graduates. T her e are th ose whowant to ru n their own businesses; people with disabilities, and tho se wh ose currentskills provide them with barely eno ugh money to survive. All ne ed an d can ben efitfrom skil ls devel opment. SETAs h ave been established to m ana ge the many skills develop me nt n SETA coordinates skills deve lopment in its particular secto r.

3 Fo r thepurpos es of pl anning and managin g the delivery of training , the e co no my hasbeen divi ded into 23 sectors, each of which has its own SETA. A sector i s m ade up of economic a ctivities that are linked and rela ted. So, forexample , ther e is a SETA that dea ls with the banking sector: a no the r is concernedwit h skil ls devel opment in the in for mation technology sector; a no the r isresponsi ble for the manufactu rin g sector and there is a SETA for agriculture. TheSETAs cover both the public a nd pr ivate Principles of the NSDS are the following: Suppor t economic growth for e mploym ent creation an d po ve rty er ad ication Promote productive citizensh ip for all by aligning skills develop me nt with nat ional strategi es for growth a nd de velopm ent Accele rate broad based eco no mic empowerment and e mplo ym en t e quity, 33(85 % Black, 54% women and 4% p eop le with disabilities in clud ing yo uth in all cat egor ies).

4 Learners wit h d isab ilities to be provid ed with rea so na ble accom modation such as assistive device s an d ac cess to particip ate in skills deve lop ment Support, monitor an d evalua te th e delivery and quality a ssura nce system nece ssar y for the implementa tion of the NSDS Advance the culture of exce llen ce in skills development an d life -lo ng lear t i s a S ETA? SETA stands for Sector Educatio n and Training Authority. Th ey a re concernedwith education and training and th eir jo b is to help implemen t the Na tio nal SkillsDevelopm ent Strategy and to in cr eas e the skills of people in their se cto SE TAs have replaced the 3 3 In dustry Training Bo ard s but ha ve gr eaterpowers and r esponsibilities. They cover every industry and o ccup atio n whereasthe I ndustry Traini ng Boards covere d some sectors only an d focu se d mainly onapprent iceships.

5 SETAs are conce rn ed with lear nership s, the in tern sh ips, learningprogramme type matrix and u nit b ased skills progr amm es. T he S ETAs wereest ablished after a research pro cess . This was to dete rmin e h ow th e differ entsect ors shoul d be defined and wh at indu str ies should be linke d t o each organisations and tra de unions in each sector esta bli she d workinggroups to pr epare applications to the Minister to approve the r e-esta blishm ent ofeach SETA. To achieve the status o f a SETA, the application s had to de monstr atethat em ployers organisations and tr ade unions supported th e pr opo se d SETA aftera consultation process. SETA s wer e re-established under Re gu latio n 27445 of 31 March 2005 with the stipulated pr ovisions. The Min ister o nly ap prove d theest ablishme nt of a SETA once he wa s satisfied that the ne cessa ry p rep aratorywork had been t d o SETAs do?

6 The fu nctions and responsibilities of SETAs are set ou t in Cha pt er 3 , se ction 10 ofthe Ski lls D evelopment Act, 1 99 8. Their main function is to con trib ute to the raisingof ski lls, to br ing skills to the em plo yed, or those wanting to b e emp loyed, in theirsect or. They have to do this by en sur ing that people learn skills th at a re needed by44employe rs and communities . Th ere is no va lue in tra ining pe ople if th ey ca nno tuse the skills they have learnt. Train ing and skills develop men t is no t ju st for yo ungpeople starting their first job s, tho ug h it is im portant for them too! T he skills ofpeople al ready in jobs must also b e enhanced. Training m ust be to agre edst andards and wi thin a nation al fr am ework wherever possib le.

7 It is n o good ifsomeone is tr ained in one provin ce and the ir qualifications are n ot reco gnised inanot her . It is not ideal for one emplo yer to increase the skills of his o r h er staff ifanot her em ployer does n ot r ecog nise them. All tr aining , wher ever it is provide dshould be subject to quality control and where appr op riate be com pa re d to thebest intern ati onal standards .In order to achieve these obje ctives the Skills Developme nt Act s tate s th at thefunctions and duties of a SETA ar e to: Develop a sector skills plan Implement the sector skills plan Develop and administer lea rn erships55 Support the implementation of th e National Qualifica tions F ra me work Unde rtake q uality assurance Di sburse levies collected from em ployers in their sector Repo rt to the Minister of La bo ur and to the South African Qu alifica tio ns Aut horit Act also gives power to SETA s to take appropriate action to enable them toundertake these various velo pin g the Sector Ski lls Pl an ( SSP)In esse nce Sector Skills P lans a re fiv e-year sector education and tra inin g skillsdevelopm ent r eports prepared by S ETA s, aimed at identifying th e skills needs ofindustrial sectors (including skills shortages and gaps)

8 , as well a s con straints tothe e ffect ive utili sati on and develo pm ent of skills in relation to the o bjectives of theNSDS, as w ell as provincial gro wth a nd development stra tegie s (in clu ding majo rproject s) and relevant indus tria l strategies. Annual upd ates ar e annual revisio ns of th e five- year Sector Skill s Pla ns an dprovide SE TAs with the opportun ity t o up date and align info rma tio n to chan gesthat mi ght have occurred in th e se ctor post the submission of the Se cto r SkillsPlans or previous annual upda Se ctor S ki lls Pla ns or a nn ua l up date also provides signa ls to ed ucation andtraining provider s and communitie s about skills that are cur ren tly ne eded or will beneeded in future in the Se ctor S ki lls Pla ns were comp iled by the SETAs and mo st ha d a steer inggroup of em ployer and worker re pr esentatives to oversee the p ro cess.

9 A team ofexperts led by the Department of L ab our assessed the Sector Skills r S kil ls Plans are impo rta nt in making decisions about p rior ities fo r skillsdevelopm ent and identificati on of cr itical skills in differe nt secto rs. The SectorSkills Plans are impor tant for the SE TAs since it provide s the frame wo rk andbackground for th eir actions. Th e S ector Skills Plan is also im po rtan t to employersand workers to help them better un derstand the sectors in which th ey a re Se ctor S ki lls Pla n is als o im po rtant to all education an d tra inin g p ro viders66since it should provide valuable sig nals abo ut d evelo pme nt an d fu ture skills Sector Skills P lan must conclu de with a set of strategic ob jective s aligned tothe National Skills Developmen t Str ategy (NSDS).

10 There are five key elements tha t mu st be looked at when Secto r Skills Plans arewrit ten an d reviewed. These are the following:1. Sec tor p ro6l eThe main pur pose of the secto r p rofile se ction is to presen t a d escr iptive pictur e ofthe sect or as it is currently, how it has changed over time as wel l asfut ure/anti cipated changes. It shou ld cover the following elem ent s: Industrial and occupational pr ofile Drivers of change Non-se ctor specific issues Sector specific industrial strateg Demand for sk ills This section sho uld provide info rma tion on the demand for skills in the can either be linked to occu pa tional scarcity or a skills gap ( top -u p skills )wit hin an occupation. The de man d for skills can be dete rmin ed, amo ngst others,through the r ecruitm ent demand fo r certain positions and n ew op portu nities anddevelopments i n the sector resu lting in new skills demands.