Partners in Business gala dinner, Tshwane North College, Pretoria
2 May 2007
"More jobs with the right skills"
Mayor Ramokgopa
Chairperson of the College Council, Mr Mashego
Head of Education, Mr Malelle PeTje
Principal of the College, Mr Mokoena
Programme director
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you very much for your invitation to speak at this evening's
function.
I am delighted to be at Tshwane North College on this special occasion that
celebrates and supports a matter close to government's heart and priorities,
namely, skills development for South Africa.
You will all be aware by now that South Africans, those in government and
business, as well as parents and young people, employed and unemployed adults
have high expectations of South Africa's 50 Further Education Training (FET)
colleges.
These 50 colleges have been established out of the merger of technical
colleges. They are expected to play an important role in the Accelerated and
Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA).
In his state of the nation addresses of 2006/07 the President of South
Africa referred to the FET colleges as central to skills development. The
Deputy President has indicated that FET colleges are keys to achieving the
human resource development skills priorities that are part of the AsgiSA
initiatives. There is general agreement that the skills revolution has begun in
FET colleges.
The Department of Education has been leading a collaborative process of
institutional modernisation, programme development and expansion of key skills
in the FET college sector.
The modern programmes that the Department of Education has developed to
replace the N programmes are presented as National Certificate (Vocational)
Qualifications. These programmes are offered in eleven economic sectors, that
is three engineering programmes, five business-related programmes, information
communication technology (ICT), agriculture, tourism and hospitality
studies.
The first intake of students in these 11 programmes was in 2007. I am
delighted to announce that all 50 colleges enrolled students on one or more of
the programmes with a total of 25 059 students enrolled. Our target was 25 000
and it has been exceeded.
I want to specifically applaud the Tshwane North College, which enrolled 880
of the 25 000 students. Many colleges came close to meeting their targets, but
Tshwane North College enrolled more than projected. Well done.
Recently when I told the Malaysian Minister of Higher Education that we come
close to reaching our target he said that, I should be announcing this more
proudly. Tonight is my first opportunity to do just that. I am particularly
pleased to report on this at an occasion at which so many high-profile
employers both in the private and public sector are present.
Many of you may have had some experience of the FET colleges, but the
colleges and programmes we have today are very different from the past. Let me
spend a few minutes telling you about government's vision for them.
The FET College Act passed in December 2006 sets out our vision clearly.
We aim to establish a nationally co-ordinated further education and training
system that provides for programme-based further education and training. The
programmes offered at the colleges are designed to train students for
satisfying and fulfilling jobs; advance the strategic priorities determined by
national policy objectives; and complement the Skills Development Strategy in
co-operation with the Department of Labour.
From this you can see that the programmes we offer are central to the
transformation of the college sector and our human resources. Considerable
funds have been voted for the re-capitalisation of the colleges. They have been
used to ensure that we design and offer programmes that meet needs of the
economy, are relevant and of high quality. It is our intention to ensure that
young people see colleges as first choice skills development opportunities.
Over and above the core offerings of the National Certificate (Vocational)
it is anticipated that FET institutions will offer other types of programmes
such as learnerships and skills programmes. These will be determined by the FET
colleges based on industry and community needs.
However, I would like to describe the path we followed in developing the
core programmes which we celebrate tonight.
In March 2005 the Department of Education began the process of developing
new curricula to replace the current N1 to N3. In reviewing the curriculum
offered at FET colleges, three inter-related stages were followed.
First, the department had to consider the design of the qualification.
The qualification design was influenced by South Africa's need for high
level intermediary skills, by labour market surveys, and by our high levels of
youth unemployment.
These sources suggested that the qualification should consist of three
components:
1. fundamental subjects for learning
2. theory
3. practical experience.
This translated into a seven-subject qualification at each of three levels,
levels 2, 3 and 4 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).
Three subjects are compulsory and aim to provide the skills for learning:
Language, mathematics or mathematical literacy and life skills, which has a
strong emphasis on Information Technology. The students then choose four
vocational subjects, which have a theoretical and practical component.
The second step in the curriculum development process was to choose the
fields or sectors in which the qualification would be offered.
The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) sub-fields were useful for
this. Labour market surveys and the skills needs identified by the AsgiSA
informed the decisions made in choosing the following fields:
* five engineering programmes including civil engineering construction
* finance, economic and accounting
* marketing
* management
* office administration
* information technology
* tourism
* hospitality studies
* primary agriculture.
Again the fields for development were widely consulted in the AsgiSA Task
Team and with organised business and labour.
The third stage in the development of the curriculum was the writing of the
content of the programmes.
Teams of writers were constituted for each sector and they began work in
August 2005. The content of the vocational component of each of the
qualification is based on the NQF organising field and is divided into four
vocational subjects as a means of ensuring a coherent knowledge base.
In this curriculum development exercise we took heed of international and
local research and experience that suggested we need to guard against the
development of narrow, company specific skills.
Rather, we followed the approach suggested in the recent International
Labour Organisation (ILO) paper for debate, "Portability of Skills" that "those
we train require not only skills that are applicable to work but also a
knowledge base that will enable them to adapt as products and production
methods change".
This paper for debate goes on to remind us that in the 21st century
"Education and training are rapidly becoming inseparable, especially as the
notion of a job for life is being replaced with lifelong learning."
Many industry, employer and higher education partners have praised the
National Certificate (Vocational) programmes.
However, it is not enough to develop a good curriculum. While a good
qualification design does contribute towards the delivery of quality learning,
it must be strongly augmented by a range of other steps such as quality
assurance, rigorous assessment regimes and quality lecturers and
facilities.
The Department of Education is systematically addressing these matters and
already lecturers have received training.
The re-capitalisation funds are directed to ensuring modern workshops,
classrooms and equipment.
Assessment exemplars for all 52 subjects in the National Certificates
(Vocational) to be examined at the end of 2007 have been distributed to
colleges for comment and to benchmark teaching practice.
But the Department of Education requires partners to ensure the quality and
relevance of the programmes offered.
The involvement of employers in the FET colleges is important for two main
reasons.
First, colleges aim to educate students to meet employers' needs. It is
therefore important that employers scrutinise our curricula to ensure that we
provide the skills required by our modern expanding economy.
Employers should also consider going beyond scrutinising the curricula and
bringing your experience and expertise to the teaching of students, the setting
or moderation of examinations and practical assessment tasks.
Second, it is extremely important that employers provide students with a
most important component of their development as skilled artisans and
professionals, namely workplace experience. It is this component that will give
our FET college students the edge.
Finally, I want to thank all of you here tonight for your presence and for
your commitment to skills development. Only through partnerships and commitment
to supporting our FET colleges will we achieve the skills we all know are
needed for economic growth and development.
Issued by: Department of Education
2 May 2007
