Private TVET in Africa: Understanding the Context and Managing Alternative Forms Creatively!

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

Private technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and national development : The South African reality

This thesis examines the extent to which the private Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector in South Africa is responsive to national development. National development is understood as associated with a range of socio-economic imperatives which include challenges of poverty, unemployment, inequality, the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its associated impacts. In addition to these, the educational component of national development is to ensure access, redress and equity, which are necessary to undo the impacts of an apartheid-related skills regime. Skills development is considered a crucial means to respond to these challenges. Without skills for formal and informal labour markets, as well as productive self-employment, South Africa’s capacity to respond to the new globalised era is likely to be considerably stunted and will negatively affect its developmental trajectory. The methodology used in this study included a mix of quantitative and qualitative strategies to obtain the size, shape and nature of provision. The quantitative component, undertaken in the course of 2002, was supplemented by randomly chosen qualitative case studies. Together, they provided the basis for unravelling a sector distinct in nature, form and content. Developing a comprehensive typology provides important insight into responsiveness of a sector characterised by wide-ranging provision forms. The typology of provider type based on profitability and form, i.e. ‘for-profit’, ‘non-profit’ and ‘in-house’ providers, was replaced with a multi-dimensional model. Learner type, as a primary typological category, includes the ‘pre-employed’, ‘unemployed’, the employed ‘self-funded employee’ and the ‘corporate client’. Provider types responding to these learner types are distinguished on the basis of location, delivery patterns and programming. The various provider forms include ‘multi-providers’, ‘specialist providers’, ‘consultants’, ‘in-house’ and ‘non-profit’ providers. Provider purposes include those responding to employment, either formal labour market or self-employment, and self-development, including leisure-related skilling and lifelong learning. Learner types and training purpose determine the manner, form and characteristics of provision. This understanding of a widely divergent and heterogeneous sector provides the context for assessing its contribution to national development in South Africa. The notions of responsiveness and receptiveness are used as conceptual devices to assess the role of the sector. Responsiveness describes specific labour market purpose, while receptiveness refers to the social development and educational imperatives of access, redress and equity. The sheer size of the sector suggests an important demand-led element of provision and represents an important measure of receptiveness to national development prerogatives. The conservative estimate of 706 884 learners, located at 4178 sites for 864 providers that pre-registered with the Department of Education in 2001, provide the basis for serious consideration of the sector. The sector adequately responds to the immediate short-term needs of employers. Programmes offered for corporate providers respond more deliberately to their immediate short-term skill requirements and which has made it possible for them to outsource a considerable proportion of their training. In addition, there is no other education and training form flexible enough to provide for the training needs of employees, and sometimes the customers of corporate concerns, as in product upgrading and support, at times and locations suitable to their requirements. Private providers did not necessarily have more linkages with the formal labour market than do public providers and are not necessarily able to secure more effectively employment opportunities for their pre- and unemployed learners With respect to receptiveness, the sector comprises learner patterns consistent with national demographics. The sector is associated with an older, employed learner type, typically enrolled in shorter-term courses. This demonstrates the sector’s accessibility. In comparison with their public counterparts, costs were not prohibitive and programme structure allowed adequate flexibility to enable learners to weave in and out of the system. Variable admission requirements also allowed learners to slot into appropriate levels. The absence of data makes comparative judgements of throughput, and quality, with public institutions difficult to make. The current need to regulate all providers equally may not be the most efficient way of dealing with the sector. In light of the national development prerogative to protect those most vulnerable from the risk of market failure, there is need to grant support to those providers most responsive to this group - in this instance, those ‘full time’ providers responding to the pre- and unemployed learner set. The market adequately regulates providers responding to the employed and corporate client groups

Access to Labour Market Equity: Advancing the Case for National Development in South African Higher Education

Abstract The responsibilities of higher education and training (HET) institutions include, but are not limited to, preparing students for absorption and productive participation in the labour market. Although the post-1994 period has witnessed a rapid expansion in enrolment into tertiary institutions in South Africa by black people who were previously excluded, this has not resulted in transforming the South African labour market. Although increased black graduate production has resulted in more black people emerging from the university system, the labour market outcomes of black graduates and those emerging from previously black tertiary institutions (referred to as previously disadvantaged institutions) is less than consistent. While this must reflect on the reality of a racialised labour market selection process that favours white rather than black students or their 'traditional' institutions, it is necessary for supply side institutions to respond appropriately. The role of universities in this process is considered critical. This article argues for a more responsive higher education system that provides a bridge between the worlds of the institution and work

Developmental TVET Rhetoric In-Action: The White Paper for Post-School Education and Training in South Africa

This paper explores the extent to which latest developments in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training 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 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" 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 is the 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

Vocational education and training for sustainability in South Africa: The role of public and private provision

Written in the twilight of the Mbeki Presidency, this paper considers the role that skills development has in the sustainability of the South African political–economic project. It explores some of the disarticulations of public policy and argues that these both undermine public sector delivery and open up opportunities for private provision to be, under certain circumstances, more responsive to the challenges of national development. We argue that there is a possibility that the state could work more smartly with both sets of providers. Crucially, however, this would necessitate working more smartly within itself. This was a major plank of the Mbeki strategy but it has failed conspicuously with regard to the Education–Labour relationship. Whether a new President can achieve a radical reworking of this relationship may be an important indicator of the viability of any new development project. The article concludes with reflections on the renewed international interest in skills development as a way of responding to the real and imagined pressures and opportunities of globalisation. Given the limited success of South Africa in pursuing skills development, we ask whether other African governments are any more likely to achieve a genuine combination of political, social and economic sustainability. The sustainability of national development projects in Africa is likely to continue to be problematic, and skills development will only ever be able to play a limited role in addressing this challenge. Nonetheless, governments can do more to support the sustainability of these skills development systems and need to pay attention to both public and private provision in so doing

Widening equity and retaining efficiency : considerations from the IBSA southern coalface

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. 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

Access and quality in South African higher education : the twin challenges of transformation

Higher Education transformation in South Africa requires a synergy of creative strategies to engage issues of redress. Access to higher education remains one mechanism for achieving this in South African higher education. While there is clearly a need to enable access by improving student success (access with success), as opposed to simply ensuring their participation (access as participation), the adequacy of these initiatives needs to be evaluated in the context of institutional transformation. By introducing a quality assurance framework, institutions can ensure that access initiatives are institutionalised. Conceptions of access, however, need to be situated within appropriate definitions of quality. This would enable institutions to track the responsiveness of measures to achieve national transformational objectives. It is argued that current Academic Development (AD) initiatives as a means of achieving `access with success' can only deal marginally with the transformation agenda in South Africa. It is proposed that a comprehensive quality assurance framework with embedded commitment to access is likely to respond appropriately to national development prerogatives of higher education access

Between a rock and a hard place : understanding the balance between access and efficiency in South African higher education

We argue a case for a ‘revisioning’ of the education policy-implementation nexus in the South African higher education sector. It is proposed that the well-meaning idealism expressed in policy pronouncements is necessarily subject to a host of mediations, national and international, which have a mutative effect on the original intent.This understanding of policy, as ‘policy pragmatism’, is used to understand the discourse in current South African higher education, which although very ‘efficiency’ driven, retains considerable access elements.The article describes how the initial policy intention of ‘unfettered’ access transmutes to a pragmatic, cautious and guided right of entry.Thus, while initial policy propositions are contained in policy, they are not as overtly discernible as would be anticipated