Skills Development in South Africa - cm …

1 Skills Development in South Africa A Reader on the South African Skills Development Arena Skills Development in South Africa A Reader on the South African Skills Development Arena Claudia Mummenthey DED Reader: Skills Development in South Africa //2 Imprint Published by: German Development Service (DED) South Africa and Lesotho Responsible: Christian Zange, Administrator Knowledge Management, German Development Service (DED) Southern and Eastern Africa , Box 13630, 1110 Arcadia Street, Hatfield 0028, Tshwane (Pre-toria), South Africa ; Hatfield Gardens, Block C, 333 Grosvenor Street, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa . Author: Claudia Mummenthey, CMC Consulting cc, Cape Town, Concept and Co-ordination: Eva St tz, Christian Zange Editing: Claudia Mummenthey, Eva St tz, Christian Zange Graphic Design/Layout: Christian Zange Photographs: Christian Zange February 2010 //3 Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Eva Stuetz, Christian Zange, Stefan Brutscheck, Tanja Jaser and Dr.

2 Man-fred Dutschke for their valuable contributions to this reader. Cape Town, 2nd February 2010 Claudia Mummenthey DED Reader: Skills Development in South Africa //4 Foreword Education, training and Skills Development is nobody could argue - crucial for the economic and social Development in South Africa . Since 1994, the South African Government has been investing tremendous-ly into the transformation of the training and education system. The whole sector has been in a conti-nuous and comprehensive change process and lots of challenges still lie ahead. For more than 10 years, the German Development Cooperation has supported the Development of sys-tems, structures and processes in the Skills Development sector. In this context, DED has been cooperat-ing with Further Education and Training Colleges in the Eastern Cape since 2006.

3 Primarily, this reader is aimed at DED staff involved in Skills Development and in other fields of work. The reader provides an overview of the Education and Training System in South Africa , but focuses on Skills Development in the sense of further education and training (in other countries known as vocational education training - VET). It provides background information, analytical aspects and reflects the devel-opments of the past as well as the current reforms. However, policies and strategies relating to Skills Development are currently in motion and changes to the system may be introduced at any time. The current reader is based on the latest information available at the time of writing, in November 2009. Furthermore, the current political reforms have allocated the responsibility for all Skills Development and Training towards the newly created Department of Higher Education and Training.

4 In future, this de-partment will therefore assume responsibility for the FET college sector. However, the detail of this transfer is still to be formulated and implemented (December 2009). Dr. Teuber Eva Stuetz Regional Director South Africa and Lesotho Coordinator Skills Development and Labor Market //5 Abbreviations and Acronyms CEP Community of Expert Practitioners DoE Department of Education DoL Department of Labour DHET Department of Higher Education and Training ETQA Education and Training Quality Assurance Body FLC Foundational Learning Certificate GFETQF General and Further Education and Training Qualifications Framework GFETQC General and Further Education and Training Quality Council HEQC Higher Education Quality Council HEQF Higher Education Qualifications Framework NQF National Qualifications Framework NSDS National Skills Development Strategy NSA National Skills Authority OFO Organising Framework for Occupations QCTO Quality Council for Trades and Occupations RPL Recognition of Prior Learning SAQA

5 South African Qualifications Council SETA Sector Education and Training Authority DED Reader: Skills Development in South Africa //6 Table of Content Imprint .. 2 Acknowledgements .. 3 Foreword .. 4 Abbreviations and Acronyms .. 5 Table of Content .. 6 List of Tables .. 8 List of Figures .. 8 1 Historical Background to Key Challenges in the Skills Development Arena .. 9 Education and Skills Levels .. 9 Provision of Education and Training: Institutional Landscape .. 10 Industry Training: Culture and Practices .. 10 Vocational Education and Training: History and National Recognition .. 10 Variety of National Languages .. 11 2 System Reform: The Reform Process and its 3 Major Stages .. 12 Stage 1: The Integrative NQF Vision and its Main 12 Stage 2: Turning Vision into 15 Stage 3: Implementation and Review of the System.

6 15 Key Implementation Agencies and Structures .. 15 Financing of the Skills Development System .. 17 Skills Development Strategies and Initiatives .. 18 Review of the System .. 18 3 The Education System .. 20 Key Challenges in the Three Qualification Bands .. 20 Intermediate Skilling: The FET College Sector .. 21 The FET Sector in General .. 21 The DED and the FET College Sector .. 24 Project Description1: Development of a Human Resource Management System .. 26 Project Description 2: Quality Management a Developmental Approach .. 27 Intermediate Skilling: The Learnership System .. 28 4 The Current Legislative Reforms: What Will Change? .. 33 Revised NQF Structure: 3 Sub-Frameworks and 10 NQF Levels .. 33 Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) .. 34 Organising Framework for Occupations (OFO) .. 34 //7 Occupational Qualifications and Curriculum Model.

7 36 5 Key Terms and Abbreviations of the New System .. 39 References .. 40 Annex 1 New National Qualifications Framework .. 43 DED Reader: Skills Development in South Africa //8 List of Tables Table 1 The main NQF Objectives .. 13 Table 2 Key Terms of the NQF System .. 13 Table 3 The 8-Level National Qualifications Framework .. 14 Table 4 Legislation related to Skills Development .. 15 Table 5 Key implementation agencies of Skills Development .. 15 Table 6 National Skills Development Strategies and Initiatives .. 18 Table 7 Challenges identified by the NQF Review .. 19 Table 8 The three main qualifications bands .. 20 Table 9 Vision for the Development of the FET Colleges Sector .. 22 Table 10 FET Programme Offer .. 23 Table 11 Key Challenges in the FET College Sector .. 24 Table 12 DED interventions as linked to Challenges in the FET Sector.

8 25 Table 13 DED interventions in the Eastern Cape .. 26 Table 14 Innovative characteristics of the QMS model .. 27 Table 15 Learnership responsibilities .. 29 Table 16 Apprenticeships versus learnerships .. 30 Table 17 The 3 Sub Frameworks and their Quality Councils .. 33 Table 18 Revised legislation .. 33 Table 19 Main Functions of the QCTO .. 34 Table 20 OFO Structure .. 35 Table 21 Key Areas of Occupational Learning .. 36 Table 22 Occupational Qualifications .. 36 Table 23 Entry Requirements to Final External National Assessment .. 37 Table 24 Key Terms and Abbreviations of the New System .. 39 List of Figures Figure 1 Stakeholder Framework of the Skills Development System .. 17 Figure 2 Occupational Curriculum Development Process .. 38 Figure 3 Figure 3 New National Qualifications Framework .. 43 //9 1 Historical Background to Key Challenges in the Skills Development Arena Since the advent of democracy in 1994 South Africa has made significant gains and progress in overcom-ing the Skills Development legacy of its past.

9 But despite this progress, low levels of Skills among the ma-jority of the formerly disadvantaged population and stubbornly high unemployment rates, especially among youths (age 15-24), still remain one of the country s most pressing concerns and greatest impedi-ments towards a better future for all. Current unemployment figures in June 2009 reveal an unemployment rate of on the narrow defini-tion. On the broad definition, which includes discouraged work-seekers ( those who are not/no longer actively seeking work) the rate rises up to 34%, placing South Africa on the list of countries with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Unemployment significantly decreases with the level of education, thus being lowest in the population group with a degree or certificate (STATS, SA, 2008). Ac-cordingly, most of the current youth unemployment is due to a low level of education, Skills not meeting the needs of employers ( a Skills -mismatch ) and the lack of relevant work-experience (Kingdon & Knight, 2004; Soko, 2008, UNECA, 2005).

10 Skills deficits and unemployment do not only severely constrain the country in terms of future economic growth and further Development . Most importantly, they are the greatest impediment towards a more equal society. After all, South Africa is among the most unequal societies in the world (right after Brazil), with a Gini coefficient between and and the majority of the population ( between 40% and 55% depending on the definition and methodology) is still living in poverty (Knight, 2006, p. 1; McGrath & Akoojee, 2007, pp. 422-423; OECD, 2007, p. 24; Seekings, 2007, p. 11). The Skills Development challenge as it has been inherited from the restrictive education and training poli-cies of the past is not easy to be overcome. Apart from dealing with the general pressures produced by globalisation and the knowledge economy, South Africa faces some unique domestic challenges in the area of Skills Development .