introducing the Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges Bill in the
National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Cape Town
17 October 2006
The FET College Bill that the house will hopefully approve today is one of
the most significant pieces of legislation in the area of skills development
and vocational education.
It is our hope that through this Bill we will lay the basis for South Africa
to develop a skills profile that signals a greater correspondence between
economic development and human capital.
A few examples indicate the lack of correspondence at the moment. Recent
estimates indicate that over the next three years we will be unable to fill 113
000 vacancies in the information technology (IT) networking field alone. In the
area of advanced networking technology (internet protocol telephony, security
and wireless) around 60 000 posts will be vacant.
South Africa lacks artisans in many sectors. The shortage is growing due to
the successful growth of our country's economy. Also noteworthy is the fact
that the average age of artisans in South Africa is 54.
The shortage of critical skills has resulted in much poaching as well as
very expensive employees.
Government plans to boost petrochemical industries and power generation.
This means new skills requirements. The recent boom in commodity prices and
other developments all imply an industrial expansion that urgently requires
institutions that train individuals with the appropriate skills and in the
numbers required by industry and other sectors.
The Bill has to be understood against this backdrop and in relation to the
skills training regime we have in South Africa today. There is a plethora of
institutions, organisations, businesses and individuals all involved in
training. Generally none of the systems work in a co-ordinated and coherent
fashion. This is the reason why despite the many excellent efforts skills gaps
remain and trainees fail to secure jobs in sectors that critically need skilled
practitioners.
The FET Colleges Bill provides the legislative framework to strengthen
responsiveness, co-ordination and quality.
In the past six years an important process of restructuring of colleges has
been underway but it has not been consolidated in law. It is the aim of the
Bill to achieve this goal.
It is important to stress that all countries with successful vocational
training programmes have specific legislation for colleges.
The Bill removes ambiguities that have been associated with the 1998 FET
Act.
The FET Act of 1998 did not differentiate colleges from high schools
offering FET level programmes.
The Bill differentiates schools from colleges.
We have redesigned the college sector so that from next year they will be
able to offer intermediate and high-level skills to students from the age of 16
to mature adults. They will be able to give effect to our long held ideal of
providing lifelong learning. To fulfil this goal colleges have to be a
different type of institution to the FET schools.
To those who fear that we are deviating from our promise to create different
types of focus high schools, I confirm today that this objective remains part
of our planning.
The 1998 law limits the colleges in a range of ways.
First, currently college staffs are employed under the Employment of
Educators Act, the same Act that determines the employment of school-based
educators. One of the negative effects of this is that a college has to draw
from school vacancy lists as a first source of staff. Thus even if a college is
in need of a skilled technical person, it may be required to employ a language
educator who is on the vacancy list.
The Bill addresses the situation and places the employment of college
lecturers on a sound and secure footing.
Second, colleges are currently obliged to employ educators with educational
qualifications. Even where the specific need is for an expert in the field of
banking or tool making, colleges have to prefer an expert with an education
qualification.
The Bill addresses the situation and makes it possible for colleges to
engage the best teachers for the task.
Third, currently FET colleges are designed to teach teenagers and not
adults. Colleges keep school time.
The Bill addresses this mischief. Colleges need to be able to offer classes
in the evening or on weekends and in facilities that are adult friendly.
The Bill addresses the situation so that colleges do not keep school time or
terms and are available to both teenagers and adults.
The Bill also establishes the possibility of greater articulation and
mobility between colleges and universities.
In the coming period there can be little doubt that the shape and functions
of higher education institutions and in particular the universities of
technology, will be influenced by the maturing FET college sector with the
progressive introduction of responsive and modernised programme offerings.
The Bill creates a platform for colleges to respond more adequately to the
skills needs of South Africa. It introduces flexibility and focus into the
sector. Colleges will become far more effective in addressing our massive
skills needs.
It is important to state that the Bill protects educators employed in the
college sector.
The Bill proposes that management staff will be appointed by the MEC while
all other staff will be employed by the college.
There has been some concern about the employment provisions of the Bill.
The objections have been taken into account in the parliamentary process and
I thank the legislatures and this house for the extensive consultation process
they have led.
As a result the Bill has been revised to emphasise the protection that all
employees have under current labour legislation.
Lecturers will continue to be represented in the Education Labour Relations
Council (ELRC) and unions will decide themselves whether to establish a
separate bargaining council.
The Bill is not only important to set up a specific statutory platform for
colleges. It is also important because our current skills shortage poses the
biggest threat to our infrastructure programme.
The Bill lays down the legislative framework for the skills revolution that
is underway in our country.
All indicators of economic growth and development in South Africa point to
the critical need for skilled artisans in a range of economic sectors. The
college sector is the sector that is best placed to teach these skills.
The time for the college sector has come.
Now is the time for employers to look to the college sector for those
critical skills they need in the immediate future.
The major development in the college sector in the next three years will be
the teaching of modernised programmes.
The new programmes have been developed in consultation with all stakeholders
and have won broad support. These new programmes are grouped in to 13 fields
and comprise 52 core subjects and many additional specialisations or electives.
These can be extended where there is a need.
Colleges have been funded through the FET college recapitalisation fund to
upgrade lecturer skills, equipment, infrastructure and IT connectivity.
They have been helped to develop strategic plans and operational plans that
align with the local, regional and national priorities. Not all colleges will
offer the same range of programmes. They will be expected to respond to local
needs (economic and social), but to do so within a framework of national skills
development.
What we will see with the passage of this Bill into law is a new beginning
for vocational education in South Africa.
The Bill will position colleges to teach the skills that are clearly
recognised and identified in the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for
South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition
(JIPSA). Colleges will now be in a position to develop as a sector that has its
own specific role, function and identity.
The Bill, moreover, creates the space for the development of other
institutional forms (referred to in the Act 98 of 1998 but constrained by the
limitations of that Act). Thus should the need arise and the objective be
clearly defined, there is space for the development of community colleges or
workers colleges.
Although there are 50 colleges there are approximately 260 college sites or
facilities. Not all of these are viable. Colleges are expected to develop these
facilities where there is a need or to relocate the facility where there is no
longer a need. This is also part of the benefit of allocating greater
responsibility and authority to the college councils and management.
The Bill is designed to enable college councils and management to make
colleges a sought after and attractive choice for school leavers and for adult
learners.
In closing let me simply say, colleges are a critical part of the nation's
response to the challenges of addressing unemployment and poverty.
Issued by: Department of Education
17 October 2006
