ACADEMIC STAFF’S PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNERSHIP PROGRAMME DELIVERY AT A FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSTITUTION

by

RENATE RUTH FESTER

MINI-DISSERTATION

submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE in

EDUCATION in the

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

at the

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG

SUPERVISOR: Dr M Gous

June 2006

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Abstract

One of the reforms the first democratic government of South Africa embarked on

was restructuring the further education and training (FET) college landscape.

This was meant to create a cohesive structure to address the challenges inherent

in a stratified system; to afford learners access to the high quality, lifelong

learning opportunities that are essential for social and economic competitiveness

and to simultaneously reintegrate the country into the global economy.

The historical backdrop, from which these institutions emerged, saw successive

governments leaving several challenges unaddressed. The first democratic

government recognised the technical college sector as a fragmented,

“dysfunctional” system (Asmal, 1999). The FET Act (1998) formally merged 152

technical colleges into 50 multi-site further education and training institutions

(FETIs).

The re-organisation of the sector intended to lay a solid foundation from which

education and training in this sector could respond to the imperatives of the

Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS), and create a framework within

which high quality skills could be developed. One of the primary mandates of

FETIs is to provide an environment where vocational skills can be developed

through learnerships, which seeks to connect the education and training systems

to allow for optimal mobility at programme level.

This study sought to explore the perceptions of academic staff at an FETI, of

learnership programmes, and the perceived challenges involved in learnership

implementation at the institution.

A survey of relevant literature and sectoral analyses revealed systemic

challenges relating to the structure and culture of the former technical colleges,

which undermined implementation of the change initiative. The problem seemed

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to lie in both the conceptualisation and the implementation of learnerships. The

sectoral analysis contended that staff members of many colleges remained

uninformed about what learnership programmes entailed and how these should

be delivered. Top-down mandates such as the implementation of learnership

programmes require an implementation framework underpinned by a strong

theory of educational change that is not devoid of the human elements of

change.

A qualitative research approach was followed. The purposive sampling method

was used to select ten “information rich” academic staff members at the

institution concerned. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews.

Analysis and interpretation of the data indicated that the FETI still faced major

challenges in terms of implementing learnership programmes to meet the

vocational needs of the industry it services. The first major finding of this study

was that learnership implementation was constrained by the perceived structural

and/or organisational inefficiencies in the system required for effective

learnership implementation. The second major finding was that it appeared as

though the depth and resilience of the culture of the college, which was not

conducive to change initiatives, was inimical to the learnership implementation

process. It is argued in relevant literature that attempting restructuring without

addressing issues related to reculturing has far-reaching implications for

successful reform. In the FETI concerned, there appeared to be no effective

strategy for building the capacity of staff to meet the challenges they would face

when learnerships were introduced.

This study indicates some of the consequences of attempting change initiatives

without taking into account the institutional culture, implementers’ behaviour and

working styles. Successful change has more to do with the professional beliefs

and assumptions held by implementers than with the voluntary adoption of the

reform, irrespective of the level of the mandate. Implementers chose practices

and changes that fitted their existing beliefs best and that were also consistent

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with the organisation’s way of doing things. Sooklal (2004:72) argues that “…

structure and culture is inextricably linked … has practical and theoretical

significance … and extends our understanding of the importance of culture and

structure as two dimensions of systemic reform”.

This research revealed several structural factors, such as capacity, support,

resources, communication, planning and advocacy, which constrained

learnership programme implementation and delivery. This study argues that

change initiatives like learnership implementation encourage symbolic rather

than substantive changes when implementers do not have a common

understanding and a shared vision of the intended outcome.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CATES Colleges for Advanced Technical Education CNE Christian National Education DoE Department of Education DoL Department of Labour FET Further Education and Training FETI Further Education and Training Institution GENFETQA General and Further Education and Training

Quality Assurance GET General Education and Training GTZ Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit HET Higher Education and Training HRDS Human Resource Development Strategy NBI National Business Initiative NQF National Qualifications Framework PSDPP Provincial Skills Development Pilot Project SAQA South African Qualifications Framework TVET Technical Vocational Education Training

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Table of Contents CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

1.1 Introduction...................................................................................................1 1.2 Overview of chapter......................................................................................1 1.3 Background to the research problem .........................................................1 1.4 Restructuring the FET System.....................................................................6 1.5 Purpose of this study ...................................................................................8 1.6 Research problem.........................................................................................9 1.7 Research questions......................................................................................9 1.8 Motivation for the study ...............................................................................9 1.9 Research design .........................................................................................11 1.10 Ethical considerations and limitations ...................................................11 1.11 Overview of the study...............................................................................12 1.12 Synthesis...................................................................................................13

CHAPTER 2 THE CONTEXT OF THE FET COLLEGE

2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................15 2.2 Overview of the FET college sector ..........................................................15 2.2.1 The establishment of the technical college sector in South Africa:....17 1867 - 1994.................................................................................................17 2.2.2 The political intent ...................................................................................18 2.2.3 The establishment of Technikons ..........................................................21 2.2.4 Transforming the technical college arena .............................................22 2.2.5 Creating an FET sector............................................................................24 2.2.6 The merged Further Education and Training Institution (FETI) ...........26 2.3 Synthesis.....................................................................................................26

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CHAPTER 3 DEFINING LEARNERSHIPS

3.1 Introduction.................................................................................................28 3.2 The concept of learnerships ......................................................................28 3.3 Education and training sub-system sector...............................................30 3.4 learnership implementation .......................................................................30 3.5 Characteristics of learnerships .................................................................32 3.5.1 Stakeholder identification and consultation..........................................33 3.5.2 Stakeholder roles and accountabilities .................................................34 3.5.3 Contractual arrangements ......................................................................34 3.6 Legislative requirements............................................................................36 3.6.1 The Quality management system (QMS)................................................37 3.6.2 Learning programmes .............................................................................40 3.6.3 Financial, administrative and physical resources ................................41 3.6.4 Managing practical components ............................................................42 3.6.5 Management of assessment of learnership programmes....................43 3.6.6 Appeals procedures ................................................................................44 3.6.7 Learner records........................................................................................44 3.7 Synthesis.....................................................................................................45

CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................47 4.2 Qualitative research approach...................................................................47 4.3 The research design ...................................................................................49 4.3.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................49 4.3.2 Purposive sampling.................................................................................51 4.3.3 Data collection method............................................................................53 4.4 Interviews ....................................................................................................54 4.5 Analysis of data ..........................................................................................56

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4.5.1 Perceptions of learnerships....................................................................59 4.5.2 General perceptions ................................................................................59 4.5.3 Knowledge, awareness and understanding ..........................................60 4.5.4 Technical capacity of staff ......................................................................62 4.5.5 Funding and management ......................................................................64 4.5.6 Curriculum and courseware....................................................................67 4.5.7 Staff morale and interest .........................................................................69 4.5.8 State involvement ....................................................................................70 4.5.9 Industry perceptions ...............................................................................71 4.6 Interpretation...............................................................................................72 4.7 Trustworthiness ..........................................................................................76 4.8 Synthesis.....................................................................................................77

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction.................................................................................................78 5.2. Conclusions ...............................................................................................80 5.3. Recommendations.....................................................................................84 5.4 Limitations of the study .............................................................................88 5.5 Recommendations for further study .........................................................88 5.6 Synthesis.....................................................................................................88

LIST OF REFERENCES.....................................................................................90 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1...........................................................................................................50

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

1.1 Introduction In the first decade of democracy, the South African government embarked on

radical reforms of the apartheid education system. One of these reforms was the

restructuring of the technical college sector (Sooklal, 2004). The reform of the

technical college sector was structural in nature but involved significant change

elements of systemic change such as comprehensiveness, coherence and co-

ordination (Fullan, 1991:88). The structural differences necessitated major

sectoral reorganization such as mergers of former technical colleges to reduce

duplication and wastage of limited resources.

1.2 Overview of chapter In this chapter, the technical college sector as it was known pre-1994 is

introduced. The cultural roots of the sector are outlined and the relevant legacy

issues, which the restructured system grapples with, are briefly discussed. I go

on to frame the background to the study’s research problem, followed by a

description of the restructured landscape for an equity driven education and

training sector. I continue this chapter with a delineation of the research problem

and the purpose of this study, including the research problem, the research

questions and the motivation for this study. I conclude this chapter with an outline

of the research design, the ethical considerations and limitations of t this study. I

conclude this chapter with a general overview of the study.

1.3 Background to the research problem The cultural roots of the technical college sector pre-1994 lay in the principles of

Christian National Education (CNE) that underpinned education in South Africa.

CNE sought to solidify racial exclusivity and ethnic identity among different races

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using language, cultural symbols and history as barriers to education and training

(Engelbrecht, 1982; Esterhuyse, 1982; Sooklal, 2004).

CNE aimed at preparing non-white South Africans for inferior positions and white

South Africans for superior positions in social and economic life in South Africa

(Christie, 1991; Sooklal, 2004). The history of the Further Education and Training

(FET) sector was shaped by the differential provisioning for social classes and

groups across the country (Badroodien, 2004). Consequently, the provisioning of

“vocational education in this country has always been preoccupied with issues

related to indigence, social and educational inferiority and mental backwardness”

(Badroodien, 2004:21). Vocational training served as deliverance for poor and

indigent children in urban areas, as the numbers of “poor white”, African and

coloured urban workers increased. Simultaneously, vocational training was

meant to ensure that impoverished learners in rural areas would develop skills

which would prevent them from migrating into the cities (Badroodien, 2004;

Sooklal, 2004). As a result the stigma attached to technical and vocational

education and training as being inferior and reserved for the less intelligent has

still not been dispelled.

The legacy of the past still prevails and the negative perception of these

institutions is further exacerbated by the current inflexible modes of delivery used

by Further Education and Training Institutions (FETIs). The colleges function on

a trimester/semester block release system which offers little or no opportunity for

learners to broaden their learning and development (HRDS, 2003). The range of

programme provision by FETIs is still predominantly engineering and business

studies (86%) which is too narrow for the diverse education and training needs of

the country (HRDS, 2003). These programmes also differ widely with respect to

quality, standards of provision, outcomes and curriculum. Employers argue that

the programmes offered by technical colleges are inadequate or outdated

(Department of Education, 1998a; McGrath, 2004; Sooklal, 2004).

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Technical colleges owe their existence to political rather than economic reasons.

To make these colleges responsive to the socio-economic needs and challenges

of the South Africa these colleges would require much more than a name change

since “… the South African system of vocational training provision has always

been characterised by a weak fragmented education-led work-based system ...

the issues of economic growth and the development of high level skills have

always been absent features in the history of technical and industrial education

provision in South Africa” (Badroodien, 2004:44).

The changes envisaged by the democratic government centred on life-long

learning and the expansion of FET (Department of Education, 1998a). However,

the organisational dimensions of a traditional educational institution system relate

to the structures, human relations, power and culture, and the collaborations and

relationships between these factors (Bolman & Deal, 1984). Research by Fullan

(1991), and Wonycott-Kytle and Bogotch (1997) indicates that structural reform

alone is not sufficient to bring about the desired changes.

The South African economy that was inherited by the new dispensation in 1994

was characterized by the need to address issues of equity and redistribution and

to create economic stability and policy credibility, which would reintegrate the

country into the global economy. The inherited economy was typified by faltering

growth, rising inflation and unemployment, and was distorted by the legacy of

apartheid and a segmented labour force, which was the direct consequence of a

discriminatory education, and training regime (McCord, 2003). Educational

institutions were highly stratified and many were characterized by poorly

resourced facilities located in isolated rural neighbourhoods.

Global experiences of educational change during the 1990s drew attention to the

complexity of the change process and, in particular, to how changes in schools

are introduced and managed within educational organisations. The way in which

educational institutions grapple with new ideas and/or practices that are needed

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to bring about change is, indeed, a complex process (McLaughlin, 1987a; 1987b;

Fullan, 1991; 1993; Sarason, 1990; Sayed & Jansen, 2001; Elmore, 1995;

Hargreaves, 1991; 1994; Sooklal, 2004). The Further Education and Training

sub-system of the education sector however, remains under-researched in

comparison to the school sub-system partly for historic reasons such as it being

afforded lower priority in comparison to the school sub-system (Cantor &

Roberts, 1986; Elliot, 1996; Sooklal, 2004). There is, therefore, a lack of research

presenting explanatory, theoretical, comparative and strategic views on the

change process in FET except for some qualitative research done by Bates

(1990) and Bloomer (1997) (Hughes, Taylor & Tight, 1996; Sooklal, 2004).

According to Gamble, McGrath & Badroodien (2004), further education in South

Africa is almost completely un-researched.

The former technical colleges did not escape stratification and, as a result, there

is a perception that these colleges offer a second rate, poor quality education

(Kraak & Hall, 1999). This negative perception is based on the premise that the

FET technical college sector is made up of small institutions which are generally

ineffective and unresponsive to the needs of the communities they are meant to

serve (McGrath, 2004; Sooklal, 2004). The aim of the FET policy under a

democratic government is to redress the apartheid disparities and to establish a

coordinated FET system that integrates education and training (Department of

Education, 1998b). The rationalization of public FETIs through a process of

mergers resulted in fewer but larger multi-site FETIs. The objective of the

restructuring of the FET sector is to pursue equity, redress and access while

simultaneously ensuring the effectiveness of the system. The intention was that

these FETIs would be responsive to local and national needs and offer a wider

variety of programmes than they had previously done. Other structural changes

include the development of enabling environments that are conducive to

partnership arrangements between individual colleges and other social partners

(Department of Education, 2001:6).

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The FET Act (Act 98 of 1998) indicates that one of the purposes of the FETIs is

to respond to the specific human resource needs of the country for personal,

civic and economic development using the integrationists approach to education

and training (Department of Education, 1998; Department of Labour, 1998;

Sooklal, 2004). This implies that education and training in this band will take on a

theoretical as well as a practical component to enhance learners’ competency

and suitability for sustainable employment post NQF level 4.

The changing demands of a post-apartheid South African society called for an

alignment of the functions and purposes of FET institutions with the socio-

economic needs of the country. The envisaged changes focused on life-long

learning, nation building, expanding the FET sector and creating a new

relationship between citizen and state (Department of Education, 1998b). Despite

concerns raised regarding countless variables such as local capacity, physical,

infrastructural or financial resources, qualifications and skills, staff motivation,

contending priorities and other aspects of the socio-political milieu, the

transformation plan was subsequently publicly launched in September 2001

(Sayed & Jansen, 2001; Sooklal, 2004). Visible signs of significant change in the

system were still absent despite the policy having been adopted some four years

earlier in 1998. The difficulties were ascribed to factors including the perceived

unsustainability of the change due to its complexity, the assumption that new

resources would need to be provided despite fiscal constraints, cynicism that the

technical college sector could be changed and ambitious policies that were too

time consuming and impractical to superimpose onto an existing technical

college model (Sooklal, 2004:112).

The changes in South African society brought about by the election of a

democratic government compelled the integration of different cultures, which had

previously been separated along racial, residential and educational lines.

Acceptance of other cultures appeared to have taken place virtually overnight

despite people having been schooled to think differently. The FET sector was

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considered a key lever for economic emancipation; however, “no studies have

been done to identify cultural or other factors that could influence or impede this

type of change in the FET sector” (Sooklal, 2004:115).

As has already been mentioned, the FET sector in South Africa is under-

researched and thus there is a dearth of theoretical, comparative or strategic

views relating to change processes in this sector. It is within this context that I

conduct this study in an FET college in South Africa.

1.4 Restructuring the FET System With the inauguration of the new democratic government in 1994, a new

education system was envisaged. The plan for the restructuring of the education

system through the implementation of a new National Qualifications Framework

(NQF) was adopted by the Minister of Education as a framework for registering

national qualifications and standards in education and training. The NQF

provided the organizing framework for the development of a new integrated

Education and Training system.

One of the first sets of reforms the new government of South Africa embarked

upon in its first decade of democracy was the restructuring of the FET system.

This sector is more commonly referred to as Technical, Vocational Education and

Training (TVET) in the international context. In 2001 the implementation plan for

the restructuring of the FET sector was released, entitled “A new institutional

landscape for public further education and training colleges: Reform of South

Africa’s technical colleges” (Department of Education, 2001:5). This

reorganization brought with it the prospect of meeting the objectives of the

country’s Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS) (Department of

Education & Department of Labour, 2001). The intention of the restructuring plan

was to ensure that the colleges would be transformed in such a way that they

would be able to offer the lifelong learning opportunities essential for economic

competitiveness and social development (Department of Education, 2001;

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Sooklal, 2004). After much consultation and debate, development plans for the

amalgamation of the provincial technical colleges into large multi-site FETIs were

formulated.

The new FET system has been described as “…a large, diverse part of the

education and training system. The purpose and mission of FET is to “respond to

the human resource needs of our country for personal, civic and economic

development” (Department of Education, 1998:5a). The strategy proposed to

accomplish this is one of integrating education and training opportunities to

enhance learners’ mobility and progression. The structures for the development

of the FET qualifications, programmes and curricula are located at the national,

provincial, and institutional level. On the NQF, the FET band is located between

the General Education and Training band (GET) and the Higher Education and

Training band (HET). The GET band comprises of Grade 1 to Grade 9 or Level 1

on the NQF, and the HET band consists of levels 5 to 8 on the NQF. This means

that FET is at levels 2 to 4 on the NQF.

The adoption of the NQF was followed by a proliferation of education policies

with the primary aim of redressing the historical disparities resulting from

apartheid rule. The objective of the new government was to have all fundamental

aspects of policies and legislation in place before the end of its first term of office

(Sooklal, 2004).

The first policy to be developed was the GET Policy, which provided for

compulsory education. This was followed by the White Paper 3, which addressed

education needs at HET level. Towards the end of the first term of office of the

democratic government, agreement was reached on the definition, purpose and

meaning of FET. The White Paper 4, which dealt with education at FET level,

was released in 1998. The FET Act (Act 98 of 1998) provided the legislative

framework for the systemic reform of the FET sector. The Act stated that “A

coordinated FET system would be achieved through the restructuring of the FET

8

landscape” (Department of Education, 1998:17a). The key objective of the Act is

the establishment of an “integrated education and training system that responds

to the HRDS and includes a new framework for programmes and qualifications”

(Department of Education, 1998:18a).

Research reflects that much has been done to transform the FET colleges, most

notably the merging of 152 technical colleges into 50 FETIs. The complex

changes considered necessary to bring about transformation in the FET sector

were introduced into an environment beset by a lack of resources, capacity and

leadership, and which was steeped in deeply conservative institutional cultures

(Sooklal, 2004). The technical college sector has been described as being highly

distorted and characterized by a narrow concern with “skills”, underpinned by an

apartheid ideology (Department of Education, 1998a; Sooklal, 2004).

Research by Fullan, (1991) and Wonycott-Kytle and Bogotch (1997) indicates

that changing the structure of a college system by merging colleges is not

sufficient to bring about the desired change. Systemic change involves change at

all levels (national, provincial, institutional), while the most difficult to achieve is

change at institutional level (Conely, 1993). Global experience of educational

change draws attention to the complexity of the change processes within

educational institutions (Conely, 1993; Fullan, 1991; Wonycott-Kytle & Bogotch,

1997). The way in which educational institutions grapple with new ideas or

practices needed to bring about change is a complex process (Fullan, 1991;

McLaughlin, 1987; 1993; Sarason, 1990; Sooklal, 2004).

1.5 Purpose of this study The purpose of this study is to explore academic staff’s perceptions of

learnerships as a mechanism to develop skills for the country and the perceived

challenges the staff face in learnership programme delivery at a single FETI.

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1.6 Research problem The FET sector still faces a major challenge in terms of providing adequate skills

for the country using learnership programmes. The vocational needs of industry

have not been met nor have FETIs been able to meet their clients’ needs and

respond effectively to learnership delivery requirements (McGrath, 2004;

Hawthorne, 2004; Fisher & Jaff, 2003). The problem seems to lie in both the

conceptualisation and the implementation of learnerships. Fisher and Jaff (2003)

assert that the academic staff members of many colleges remain uninformed

about what learnership programmes entail and about how they should be

delivered. Such a scenario may lead to the ineffective implementation of

learnership programmes. Exploring the academic staffs’ perceptions and the

perceived challenges that they face with regard to learnership programmes may

be valuable in highlighting some of the challenges these academic staff face in

the implementation and delivery of learnerships.

1.7 Research questions The research process will be guided by two research questions, namely:

• What are the academic staff members’ perceptions, of learnership

programmes?

• What are the perceived challenges the academic staff at this FETI face in

the delivery of learnership programmes?

1.8 Motivation for the study The FET Act, (No. 98 of 1998) which formally merged 152 technical colleges into

50 multi-site FETIs, was intended to lay a solid foundation from which education

and training in this sector could respond to the imperatives of the HRDS as

envisaged by the Departments of Education (DoE) and Labour (DoL). The HRDS

was aimed to create a framework within which the high quality skills required to

address societal and economic needs could be provided (Department of

Education, 2001). One of the primary mandates of FETIs is to provide a training

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environment in which intermediate skills, such as vocational skills, to be

developed by means of learnership programmes (Department of Labour, 2001).

A learnership programme integrates education and training in the sense that the

theoretical and practical competencies described in outcomes associated with

specific unit standards or qualifications are combined. Learnership programmes

depend on the joint participation of the learner, employer and the service provider

concerned (SAQA, 2001).

The strategic role that a FETI is expected to play in meeting skills development

imperatives is emphasised by the current FET Policy, which seeks to connect the

education and training systems to allow for optimal mobility at programme level

(Gewer, 2003). While learnerships are not restricted to FETIs, these institutions

are crucial to the incorporation of general education into the training system.

FETIs are well suited to the provision of the theoretical component of the

learnerships (DoE, 1998) and they are structurally in an ideal position to meet the

needs of school leavers, adult workers, the unemployed and other social groups

wishing to improve their knowledge and skills through learnerships (NBI, 2003).

Changes in the global context have placed emphasis on the FET sector, yet little

attention has been paid to research on implementation and reform strategies for

interventions which seek to significantly alter the way in which education and

training is implemented in countries facing social and economic challenges. This

study argues that staff at FETIs operates under circumstances that are far from

optimal due to pressures of time, lack of information and multiple competing

issues. At the same time, the institutional structures have a powerful effect on the

implementation process and shape the way in which decisions are made. The

result is that the implementation strategies are often not consistent with the

intentions of the originators, with the strategy focusing on elements that cannot

produce the kinds of changes that are wanted – the reform focuses on what can

be done, instead of what could really make a difference. In this study, I consider

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ways in which implementation strategies for learnership programmes can be

structured and supported as important components for change.

1.9 Research design This study will be done within the qualitative paradigm. I selected a purposive

sampling design. I employed a specific data collection method, namely the semi-

structured interview. The socio-dynamic pattern of the research process shows

that the people involved define both the social contexts and the specific situation

of a research programme. It was necessary for me to recognise the socio-

dynamic pattern of the research process in order to position myself in this

process. I was not prepared to fall prey to concentrating on merely achieving

results and consequently paying little attention to the interdependency of

participants and researcher. Interactional patterns of the researcher or research

groups are dependent upon the behaviour of the individual participants or the

group of participants involved. In my study, the educators’ purpose is established

in the situational context through the actions and interactions of the researcher

(Neuman, 2000; Patton, 2000; Schratz, 1993).

1.10 Ethical considerations and limitations As the researcher, I was the primary instrument for data collection and analysis.

One of the possible limitations of this is the possibility that researcher bias could

have been introduced into the research study. Since this raises concerns about

reliability and validity concerns, I made use of strategies such as taking the data

and interpretations back to the interviewees in order to confirm the credibility of

the information and the narrative account, allowing all participants the opportunity

to confirm validity. Permission was sought from all interviewees to have the

interviews tape-recorded for ease of transcription and analysis. Interviewees were

assured of their anonymity and the concomitant confidentiality of the research.

Participation in this study was voluntary and participants gave written consent to

participate and have the interview tape-recorded. The advantage of recording

interviews is that a verbatim transcription of recorded interviews can be made,

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which provides the best database for analysis. Bearing in mind the possibility that

information could be distorted or exaggerated, I found it necessary to crosscheck

the interviewees’ tape-recorded accounts with the interpretation of the recordings.

Merriam (1998:77) points out that “comparing an informant’s accounts with the

documentary accounts given by other informants” is a way to detect and correct

distortion. Transcriptions of the tape recordings were given to interviewees for

corrective and elaborative comments and verification.

1.11 Overview of the study Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the former technical college system and

outlines the democratic government’s intentions to address the legacy of

disparities in this sector. I go on to give the background to the former technical

college sector and the changing demands placed on the post–apartheid South

African education and training sector. I further outline the plan for the

restructuring of the FET sector and highlight the purpose and problem this study

wishes to extricate. This is followed by a motivation for the study. The chapter is

concluded with a description of the research design, ethical considerations and

limitations attended to during this study and a general overview of the study.

Chapter 2 provides an overview of the technical college sector and gives a brief

history of the South African technical college education system dating back to its

origin in 1867. The chapter offers insight into the political basis of the inherited

vocational education and training system and the emergence of vocational

education in higher education. This chapter is concluded with an outline of the

intentions of the new FET policy for transforming the technical college arena and

the subsequent emergence of the FETI.

Chapter 3 introduces the concept and characteristics of learnerships. The

legislative framework and requirements for learnership implementation are briefly

outlined and discussed. The learnership implementation requirements from a

legislative perspective are compared with the perceptions that some of the

13

teaching staff have of learnership implementation. The objective is to gain insight

into the perceptions the staff has of learnerships and to analyse their experiences

of learnership implementation.

Chapter 4 describes the research design and methodology selected to explore

the questions in the study. A qualitative research approach was followed. A

purposive sampling method was used. This chapter seeks to explain the factors

that influence and/or impede learnership implementation in this FETI. The

argument of the study and its implications for further research or enquiry are

presented against the rationale for the study described in chapter 1 and the

literature review in chapters 2 and 3. In exploring the critical questions, I

conclude that there are influences and impediments, which influence learnership

implementation.

Chapter 5 suggests that learnership implementation be structured and supported

through collaboration, communication and advocacy with defined plans aimed at

building vision, trust and confidence. I argue that decision makers in this FETI

construct an implementation framework underpinned by a strong theory of

educational change that is not devoid of the human elements of change.

1.12 Synthesis In this chapter, I presented an overview of the roots and legacy of the technical

college system in South Africa. I went on to reflect on the democratic

government’s intended transformation of this system and the legislative

framework underpinning this transformation. I then described the research

problem and the purpose of this research. This was followed by the research

questions, which guided this study and the motivation for the study. I concluded

this chapter with an outline of the research approach and the associated

research design, followed by the ethical considerations and limitations attended

to during this study. I also gave an overview of the general structure of the study.

14

In the next chapter, I will give a historical chronicle of the development of the

technical college sector between 1867 and 1994.

15

CHAPTER 2 THE CONTEXT OF THE FET COLLEGE

2.1 Introduction In this chapter, I provide a brief sketch of the historical and political contexts in

which the former technical colleges existed. The intention of this is to

demonstrate the roots of the structural constraints of the technical college sector

in order to understand some of the challenges the FET sector faces in

learnership delivery. This historical perspective explores the intentions of

successive apartheid governments and outlines the challenges that the new

democratic government faces in dismantling an unequal and divided system and

building a new FET sector.

2.2 Overview of the FET college sector In the early twentieth century, the technical college sector provided theoretical

learning alongside the practical training of the apprenticeship system (Abedian &

Standish, 1992; Sooklal, 2004). By the beginning of the 1990s, the linkages with

apprenticeships had radically declined and colleges took on increasing numbers

of non-apprentices into their courses. This resulted in practical learning no longer

complementing theoretical provision for the majority of learners. Parallel to this

was the increase in black South Africans accessing skilled and semi-skilled work

during the 1980’s. Colleges faced a new wave of clientele despite the provision

remaining racially separate. By 1994, the technical colleges were a complex mix

of historically white institutions with considerable autonomy, historically black

institutions with little autonomy and ex-homeland colleges.

Educational change in South Africa, as with countries around the world, is

fundamental to the process of socio-economic transformation and “can only be

understood within a historical perspective” (Levin, 2001:4). The proposed reform

of the FET system in South Africa emerged in particular within the economic,

16

political and institutional contexts. The manner in which this reform is

conceptualised and implemented is dependent largely on an educator’s past. An

educator’s history provides a “platform for understanding his/her experiences in a

contextual framework” (Yende-Mthethwa, 1999:68).

The introduction of learnerships in South Africa reflects part of the transformation

process; it also reflects the way in which educators perceive policy and

implement it. Understanding what educators think is crucial in the South African

context, especially in the light of the history of South African Education and

Training. South Africa’s past is critical in seeking to understand how educators

are coping with learnerships. An educator’s past is part of who he/she is. How

educators deal with their past educational experiences helps educators to reflect

on what factors and events impact most on their knowledge and teaching

practices (Yende-Mthethwa, 1999).

Similarly, understanding the history of the technical college sector in South Africa

is necessary for understanding the reforms in the FET sector for two reasons.

Firstly, one needs to understand the relationship between the development of the

colleges and the growth of South Africa’s economy over the past century.

Secondly, the history demonstrates the neglect of the technical college sector by

the apartheid regime prior to the 1980s, and the narrow vocational concept of

skill which underpinned attempts to expand the sector (Fisher, Jaff, Powell &

Hall, 2003). The importance of the FET sector can be ascribed to its role in

providing a dynamic environment for the development of skills through amongst

others, learnership delivery. Consequently, in this chapter I present an historical

account of the technical college sector in order to understand the structural

influences on, and constraints to, learnership implementation that this study

attempts to explicate.

In this historic chronicle, I describe a complex culture that goes back to the

earliest days of the South African technical education system. This account

17

tracks the emergence of the technical college sector after the Second World War.

It then proceeds to outline the democratic governments’ resurrection of the

technical college sector after 1994 and the consolidation and growth of the FET

sector.

2.2.1 The establishment of the technical college sector in South Africa: 1867 - 1994

The history of technical training in South Africa is connected with the early

development of the South African economy. The discovery of diamonds and gold

in Kimberley between 1867 and 1875, in what was then known as Transvaal,

initiated major developments in remote areas of the country. The gold rush,

which followed, created powerful synergy between white owned capital and

abundant black labour. This level of activity subsequently led to the need for

railways to transport people into the gold and diamond rich regions.

Concomitantly, the need to transport equipment and power supplies grew.

Consequently, new urban areas were established and developed (Abedian &

Standish, 1992; Sooklal, 2004). The development of the railways and the growth

of the mining industry created a demand for technically competent people for

maintenance and other engineering activities. Based on this need the Natal

Government Railways started the first technical training classes for the railway

workers based in Durban in 1884. Similar classes were started in Salt River in

Cape Town by the Cape Government Railways in 1890 and by the Central South

African Railways in Pretoria in 1902 (Abedian & Standish, 1992; Sooklal, 2004).

The above learners came to be known as apprentices. As training developed the

De Beers mining company made the attendance of these classes compulsory,

which led to the establishment of the School of Mines in Kimberley in 1896

(Sooklal, 2004). In the early 1900s interest in technical training grew and, in

1902, the High Commissioner for the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony

convened a conference for the heads of the various colonies. A resolution was

passed that, in order to meet the needs of the colonies, technical schools should

18

be established in conjunction with higher education institutions (Pittendrigh,

1988; Sooklal, 2004).

The Transvaal School of Mines was established in 1904 and all students in

Kimberley were transferred to this school. This became known as the Transvaal

Technical Institute, later the Transvaal University College, and then the South

African School of Mines and Technology. In 1922, the name was changed again

to the University of the Witwatersrand (Malherbe, 1977; Nattrass, 1981; Sooklal,

2004). Examinations written by technical education students at technical

institutes in South Africa were the forerunners of the National Technical

Examination system.

Between 1906 and 1916, a number of colleges opened their doors. The Pretoria

Polytechnic and the Durban Institute opened in 1906 and 1907 respectively,

followed by the SA Cape College in Cape Town. By 1910, there were technical

schools in Pretoria, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and one was being built in

Johannesburg (McKerron, 1934; Pittendrigh, 1988; Sooklal, 2004). By 1909, the

Pretoria Trade School extended its focus from machine construction, practical

mathematics, carriage building and sketching to include woodwork, printing,

blacksmithing, plumbing and electrical training (HSRC 2003; Pittendrigh, 1988;

Sooklal, 2004). The training that was provided comprised of a split programme of

50 per cent workshop training and 50 per cent classroom tuition.

2.2.2 The political intent In 1911, the Minister of Education convened a conference on Technical,

Industrial and Commercial Education in Pretoria and 67 resolutions were passed.

The most significant of these resolutions focused on the need for central control

of vocational education, a National Advisory Board on Vocational Education and

central syllabi, examinations and certification in technical education. Provincial

administrators guarded their provincial rights jealously so the implementation of

these proposals was not keenly accepted. Despite this, the National Advisory

19

Board for Technical Education was established in September 1912 but it had no

executive functions. It was not until 1916 that the national syllabi and national

technical examinations were introduced (Sooklal, 2004; Pittendrigh, 1988).

The South African Act of 1909 governed technical and vocational education but

Section 85 of this Act limited the transfer of any education not clearly defined as

higher education from the provinces to central government. The need to clearly

define higher education became imperative. By 1922, a definition of higher

education was adopted in the Fourth Financial Extension Act of 1922 (no 5 of

1922). The adoption of the definition in this act resulted in any work other than

technical high school work being defined as higher education. As a result, the

Durban Technical College changed to a state subsidized college from the 1 April

1922 and the name was changed to the Natal Technical College in conjunction

with the Natal University College (Malherbe, 1977; Pittendrigh, 1988; Sooklal,

2004). The Cape Technical College came into being in October 1922.

The accelerated industrialization in South Africa at this time saw an increase in

technical college enrolments of mainly white South Africans because of the

increase in the number of apprenticeships which followed the promulgation of the

Apprenticeship Act in 1922. This act required apprentices to attend technical

college classes (Sooklal, 2004). The Higher Education Act of 1923 (No 30 of

1923) incorporated these colleges into the higher education arena and gave

these colleges considerable autonomy (Malherbe, 1977; Sooklal, 2004).

However, this initially applied only to the Natal, Cape Town and SA Native

Colleges (which later became known as the University of Fort Hare).

Financing of education was still a critical issue. In 1923, an Education

Administration Commission was appointed and tasked to, inter alia, define the

limits of compulsory education, assign costs for such education, examine and

report on the provisions for industrial or technical education or training and give

advice on how the existing provision should be changed if necessary. The

20

Commission ultimately recommended that Provincial Administrations assume

control of educational work in state and state aided institutions. The Commission

also recommended that a Union Board of Education be constituted and given the

authority to coordinate the educational activities of the four provincial

administrations, both amongst each other and amongst the universities. By 1923,

the vigorous development of technical colleges saw branches being established

countrywide and the focus of provision extending into more general courses as

well as public service courses. With this growth came concerns about duplication

of work and resource wastage. Yet another commission (the Van der Horst

Commission) was appointed to report on the delimitation of duties between the

technical colleges and the universities. The commission recommended, inter alia,

closer linking of colleges with other secondary education institutions, that

technical colleges be placed under the direct control of the Union government

and technical colleges be stopped from duplicating work done by universities

(Malherbe, 1977; Sooklal, 2004).

At a conference in Durban in October 1924, the Minister of Education proposed

that his department assume all responsibility for vocational education in order to

streamline the financial relationships between the central government and the

provincial administration. This proposal was accepted and ‘higher education’ was

extended to include any other education that the Minister might declare as

‘higher education’ (Pittendrigh, 1988; Sooklal, 2004). Post 1924 represented the

beginning of the skills development regime.

The legitimization of CNE provided the ideological framework for the

authentication of racial and ethnic differences. In 1926, the colour bar was re-

established by the Mines and Workers Act of 1926, which prevented black

workers from moving into favourable job classifications such as artisans and

tradesmen which were reserved for white workers only. Black workers could only

access unskilled or semi-skilled jobs at the lower end of the market. The Job

Reservation Act, which was promulgated in 1950, ensured the reservation of

21

skilled labour for ‘white’ workers (Asmal, 2003; Department of Education, 2001;

Cross & Chisholm, 1990; Pittendrigh, 1988; Sooklal, 2004).

When South Africa experienced an economic boom during the late 1920s and

early 1930s state policy was based on racial divisions and unskilled rural

Afrikaans speaking workers felt threatened by black South Africans who

competed for their jobs. Protecting their interests in the labour market through

racial divisions seemed to be their preferred option (Department of Education,

2001; Sooklal, 2004).

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, further developments and new

activities emerged and South Africa was plunged into its first industrial revolution.

Technical colleges were then required to perform new functions such as

providing a large number of technicians to maintain production levels in the

country and to man the armed services. This extended need saw the

establishment of the Central Organization for Technical Training (COTT) whose

task it was to train technicians to service machinery for ‘modern’ warfare and to

determine both the syllabi and mode of instruction delivery (Abedian & Standish,

1992; Malherbe,1977; Natrass,1981; Sooklal, 2004). By 1940, there were COTT

facilities in all the major cities to train large numbers of people as fitters, machine

tool operators, tool repairers, electricians, sheet metal workers, blacksmiths and

welders. These programmes were for men between the ages of 18 and 40 years

old and the programmes lasted 24 weeks. This training later became known as

COTT Training. Women were introduced into this training in August of the same

year (1940). COTT Training was terminated in June 1948, but aspects of the

training became essential parts of the Apprenticeship Act.

2.2.3 The establishment of Technikons In 1945, the United Party appointed the De Villiers Commission of Inquiry to

investigate technical and vocational training. The Commission’s report was

released in 1948, simultaneously with the change in government from the United

22

Party to the National Party. Because of the change in government, the

Commission’s findings were not dealt with, and despite the need to assess and

renew the post-war education system, the importance of technical college

education declined. The ideological agenda of the National Party resulted in

many of the technical colleges splitting into two, based on language preference

(English and Afrikaans) and promoting the development of Afrikaans medium

colleges. Cabinet facilitated this agenda in 1954 when it decided to take over all

technical colleges as full state institutions. The Vocation Training Act, 1955 (No

75 of 1955) gave authority to the Ministry of Arts and Science to take over the

technical colleges, which reduced the influence of local College Councils as well

as the local business committees. This was “probably the main cause” for the

decline of the technical colleges during this period (Malherbe, 1977:209). State

investment in technical colleges declined drastically and colleges suffered from

severe financial constraints (Malherbe, 1977; Sooklal, 2004).

In 1956 the Department of Education revived the training of technicians and the

first four-year course, sponsored by the Chamber of Mines, commenced in 1958

(Malherbe, 1977; Sooklal, 2004). This marked the conception of Advanced

Technical Education which was underpinned by the Advanced Technical

Education Act of 1967 (No 40 of 1967), amended in 1979. This resulted in the

demise of the urban technical colleges and the subsequent emergence of the

Colleges for Advanced Technical Education (CATES). These institutions later

became known as Technikons. For the next thirty years, namely 1950 to 1980,

technical colleges remained relatively quiescent and were racially divided with

funding and corporate governance models discriminatory across the technical

college sector (Asmal, 2001; Department of Education, 2001; Sooklal, 2004).

2.2.4 Transforming the technical college arena The 1970s and 1980s saw political conflict increase and economic growth

decrease (Abedian & Standish, 1992; Asmal, 2001; Coleman, 2003; Gelb, 1991;

Sooklal, 2004). The Education and Training Act of 1979 introduced many

23

changes to the state education and training policies. This Act replaced the Bantu

Special Education Act of 1964. In 1981 the De Lange Commission, with support

from the private sector and the trade unions, encouraged the promulgation of the

Technical Colleges Act of 1981 (no 104 of 1981). This Act allowed for the

provision of skills training for people who had not received compulsory schooling.

Furthermore, the existing 42 technical institutes as well as the 29 existing

technical colleges (white colleges) were declared state-aided institutions

(Kallaway, 1984; Nasson & Samuel, 1990; Samuel, 1990; Sooklal, 2004). All

other technical colleges under Act 104 of 1981 were regarded as state colleges

and were controlled and managed by the state (Sooklal, 2004).

It became evident that the institutionalization of the apprenticeship education and

training system that provided on-the-job training supplemented by theoretical

training through the network of public technical colleges was no longer

sufficiently sustainable for the needs of South Africa’s growing economy (Sooklal,

2004). When South Africa experienced another economic boom during the late

1960s and early 1970s; the skills shortage in South Africa was amplified. The

imminent skills shortage and the state’s narrow concept of ‘skills’ as was

understood in the De Lange Commission Report of 1981 was a source of great

concern to employers and organized labour (Davies, 1987; Kallaway, 1990;

Sooklal, 2004). The industrial decentralization policy, which was being practised

by the apartheid government, was creating a demand for skilled labour in

‘homeland’ border areas and black labour was being recruited to do jobs

previously reserved for white workers. These workers were, however, employed

at different designations and paid at lower rates than their white counterparts

were. These black workers were also denied access to apprenticeship and

vocational training (Department of Education, 2001; Sooklal, 2004).

As pressure from non-racial trade unions mounted, the apartheid government

agreed to extend training opportunities to non-white workers on the condition that

the provision of such training took place at separate institutions. These

24

institutions became known as state–aided technical colleges. Training at these

technical colleges was racially divided (black, coloured, Indian), and funding and

corporate governance models were discriminatory across the technical college

sector (Asmal, 2003; Department of Education, 2001; Chisholm, 1984; Sooklal,

2004).

Having sketched the evolution of the technical college sector, the next section

provides a description of the initiatives and the vision of the new democratic

government elected in 1994.

2.2.5 Creating an FET sector Subsequent to the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994 a new

framework integrating education and training emerged: A Policy Framework for

Education and Training (ANC, 1994a). This formed the basis of subsequent

education policies post-1994. The Reconstruction and Development Program

(RDP) provided the framework for all policies under the new government.

This was the first of key strategic shifts that took place between 1994 and 1997.

The intention of this shift was to create an FETI framework by dismantling the old

technical college system and reconstructing, systemically, the organisational

structures and procedures which would take education and training beyond the

formerly divided bureaucracies of the technical college system without breaking

down service delivery (Brink, 2003; Department of Education, 2001). This

framework would include the establishment of an equity-driven framework for

educational transformation within the technical college sector (Department of

Education 2003; Department of Education, 2001). The goal underlying in this

new framework was to ensure that all people would have access to lifelong

education and training opportunities which would contribute towards improving

the quality of their life (Brink, 2003; Department of Education, 2001). After much

research and policy work, the official policy framework for Education, White

25

Paper 4: A programme for the Transformation of Further Education and Training,

was released in August 1998 (Department of Education, 1998; Sooklal, 2004).

The second phase of development of the organisational structures took place

between 1998 and 2000, and the move was from framework development to

implementation. The National Strategy for Further Education and Training 1999-

2001: Preparing for the twenty-first century through education, training and work

outlined four broad strategic objectives for systemic change. These were

organisational development, learning and teaching, resourcing FET and

planning, monitoring and evaluation as areas for intervention or change. This

was the first five-year plan outlining the transformation priorities for the sector

(Brink, 2003; Department of Education, 2001; Department of Education 1999;

Sooklal, 2004). Establishing a single framework for education and training was

considered ambitious but, on a theoretical level the integrationist approach

guaranteed that general, professional and vocational qualifications were part of a

single system which would allow progression.

The Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal, who was appointed in June

1999, concluded after a review of the performance of the education and training

system, that it was “… largely dysfunctional” (Asmal, 1999:2). Based on this the

Minister developed his Tirisano Fellowship Programme which had five

programme areas for the transformation of education and training (Department of

Education, 2000b; Sooklal, 2004). Programme four of the five–part Tirisano

Programme highlighted the creation of “a vibrant FET system to equip youth and

adults to meet the economic and social needs of the 21st century” (Department of

Education, 2000b:3). Project One of Programme Four focused on the

restructuring of the FET sector so that it would be “responsive to national and

provincial goals and priorities, including human resource development needs”

(Department of Education, 2000b:3). In line with international trends, education

and training were recognised as essential elements of human resource

development. The development of an integrated approach to education and

26

training was an underlying imperative for human resource development

(Department of Education, 1995; Sooklal, 2004).

The purpose and mission of the current FET system is to respond to the human

resource development needs of the country in order to ensure ongoing

leadership, to support lifelong learning and to develop economies of scale.

However, in the context of mass youth unemployment, a legacy of employer

indifference to training and development, and ineffective harnessing of energies

and resources to address these problems, FETIs must also develop the capacity

to offer greater support to learners. Innovative partnerships with industry,

business and communities will need to be established in order to respond to

market needs (Department of Education, 2001; McGrath, 2003; Unwin, 2003).

2.2.6 The merged Further Education and Training Institution (FETI) The institution in this study is a merged institution located in the Gauteng region.

It currently consists of several delivery sites and a central office. These sites are a

combination of four former technical colleges: two historically advantaged

technical colleges and two historically disadvantaged technical colleges. This

study took place at two of the delivery sites and the central office. These

members of staff were willing and available to participate in this study.

2.3 Synthesis In this chapter I have depicted, albeit briefly, the historical and political contexts of

the former technical colleges. I chronicled the history of technical training in South

Africa, dating back to the early development of the South African economy. This

was followed by a discussion of the political intent of successive apartheid

governments, the demise of technical college training on the political agenda and

the subsequent emergence of the technikon sector. This was followed by a

description of some of the challenges that the democratic government faces in

rebuilding and transforming a previously divided education system. I have

concluded this chapter with an overview of the democratic government’s strategic

27

shifts to dismantle the old education system and create an equity–driven

framework for educational transformation. In the next chapter, I will introduce the

concept of learnerships in the education sector context.

28

CHAPTER 3 DEFINING LEARNERSHIPS

3.1 Introduction In this chapter, the concept of learnerships is introduced and the underpinning

legislative framework is outlined. The education and training sub-system as part

of the education sector is introduced and its position in the sector is described.

Learnerships are then defined and characterised in some detail and the

legislative requirements that a provider needs to fulfil when embarking on

delivering learnership programmes are outlined.

3.2 The concept of learnerships The Skills Development Act of 1998 introduced the concept of learnerships.

Learnerships are modelled on the apprenticeship tradition but, unlike

apprenticeships, they can be applied to any occupation and not just to trades

(Department of Labour, 2002). Apprenticeships are for people who want to

become tradesmen such as electricians, plumbers or fitters and turners.

Learnerships introduced new ideas for learning, which opened opportunities to

learners in other sectors such as tourism and hospitality, banking and the service

industries (Department of Labour, 2002). This does not imply that

apprenticeships will be discontinued. They will, however, eventually be converted

to learnerships (Department of Labour, 2002).

A learnership is a training programme that “combines theory with the relevant

practice on the job” (Department of Labour, 2002:2). A learnership cannot exist if

there is no on-the-job practice. The intention is that people really “learn the ’in’s’

and ‘out’s’ of an occupation by practicing all of its aspects under the watchful eye

of an experienced and qualified person” (Department of Labour, 2002:2). In order

for learners to qualify through a learnership, they need to be assessed against

occupational standards, which have been registered on the National

Qualifications Framework (NQF). Industry stakeholders will have agreed to these

29

occupational standards in advance. A learner on a learnership can also

accumulate credits awarded on successful completion of standards and achieve

a nationally recognised qualification. Qualified people will be able to work for

themselves as well as be employed by someone else. Learnerships are based

on legally binding agreements between the learner, the employer and the training

provider. This is to ensure that the quality of the training that is provided is

assured and the integrity of the qualification is maintained. An important

distinction needs to be made between a learnership, a qualification and an

employment contract. Learnerships are new work-based education and training

programmes where learners learn not only how things are done but also why

they are done (Department of Labour, 2002; NTD, 2004).

A learnership leads to a qualification. However, it is not always necessary to

enter into a learnership to obtain a qualification (Poslec seta, FAQ; accessed

Dec, 2005). A learnership contract is not an employment contract per se. The

Skills Development Act (SDA) states that if the learner was in the employment of

the employer when the learnership agreement was concluded, the learner's

contract of employment is not affected by the agreement. In practice, this means

that the employer cannot terminate the employee’s employment contract when

the learnership contract is terminated (Department of Labour, 2004; Sacht,

accessed Dec 2005). If the learner was not in the employment of the employer

when the learnership agreement was concluded, the learner and the employer

must enter into a contract of employment if the learner is a ‘pre-employed’

employee. If the learner is an ‘unemployed’ learner, the employer should enter

into a contract of employment with the employee for at least the period of the

employer's commitment to the learnership agreement (Department of Labour,

2004; Sacht, 2005).

The length of a learnership will depend on the level at which the qualification is

registered on the NQF. It will normally not be less than one year. Some

learnerships might last two or three years while others may be much shorter

30

(Chieta, 2005; Free State Youth Commission, 2005). The costs and benefits of

increasing the pool of skilled people will improve the overall investment climate

and contribute to rising prosperity for all in the country. Skilled people increase

productivity and reduce inequalities and instability in the market place

(Department of Labour, 2002). Not training people results in employers needing

to recruit qualified personnel at a premium rate, which augments their wage bill.

There are costs associated with training which include the provider’s training

fees, the cost of a mentor or supervisor as well as the fact that the person in

training is not necessarily as productive or as accurate as a qualified person.

Employers are, however, able to access some financial compensation from

SETA’s in the form of cash grants as well as tax incentives from the South

African Revenue Service (SARS) (Department of Labour, 2002; Department of

Labour, 2003).

3.3 Education and training sub-system sector The education and training sub-system sector has two Education Training Quality

Assurance Bodies (ETQA’s) for the three education bands on the NQF; one for

the Higher Education and Training (HET) band and the other for the General and

Further Education Training bands (GENFET). The Council for General and

Further Education Training Quality Assurance (GENFETQA), formed by the

Department of Education (DoE), monitors and quality-assures programme

delivery in these two bands (Department of Education, 2004b).

3.4 Learnership implementation The South African FET policy that was drafted by parties with strong political

affiliations to the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government was the

subject of extensive and vibrant consultation at different levels. Constitutionally,

provincial departments are responsible for implementing policy by translating it

into such action as they consider best within their unique contexts (Sooklal,

2004). If one considers the intergovernmental nature of the South African FET

system, implementation occurs at both provincial and institutional levels while

31

policy, norms and standards are set at national level. In my opinion, it would be

naive to assume that implementation is an automatic transmission from the

national level. Implementers apply their own meaning and interpretation to

intended initiatives (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Top down mandates such as the

Skills Development Strategy (SDS) are insensitive to the fact that people respond

differently to these initiatives and the planned change is consequently seldom

achieved (Sooklal, 2004). Change is more than just a mandate; it involves the

complexities and subtleties of a change process (Stoll & Fink, 1996; Tyack &

Tobin, 1994).

South Africa has a growing number of unemployed youth and socially

marginalised individuals from historically disadvantaged communities (Sooklal,

2004). There is a growing need for FETIs to meet the vocational demands faced

by the country, since FET is perceived to be the crossroad for adolescents and

the gateway to economic advantage (Department of Education, 1999;

Department of Education, 2001). The FET College is intended to improve the

quality of education in order to combat educational alienation and to assist school

leavers and unemployed youth to make a meaningful contribution to society

(Department of Education, 1998a). The public FET sector is characterised by

efforts to consolidate a merging process, which focused on institutional reform

and led to the reconfiguration of the FET landscape (Umalusi, 2004). The

establishment of the South African FETIs is associated with attempts to discard

the stigma attached to these institutions from the apartheid era (as was

discussed in 1.3; 2.2.2; 2.2.3 and 2.2.4), by creating new vibrant FETIs that are

responsive to the social, political and economic needs of society. A critical

mandate for an FETI is to deliver intermediate to high skills for the country in

keeping with the contribution, FETIs must make in terms of the HRDS (Fisher et

al, 2003).

Many colleges remain overwhelmingly focused on the formal DoE approved

engineering and business studies programmes. The development of non-DoE

32

programmes such as learnerships, which are intended to be responsive to labour

market and community needs, often remains marginal (Fisher et al, 2003). Closer

cooperation between the Department of Education and the Department of Labour

at macro level is necessary to ensure the success of the new FETI sector. These

closer relationships will ensure that relevant labour market information and the

establishment of appropriate funding regimes will allow colleges to access

funding more easily and will inform sector planning (McGrath, 2004). Similarly,

the link between “education, skills and employment, needs strengthening through

the accelerated introduction of learnership programmes, as a key element of

college provisioning” in an attempt to reduce the legacy of skills shortages in

South Africa (McGrath, 2004:155).

3.5 Characteristics of learnerships Learnerships require a different approach in terms of teaching methodology.

Learnerships are different from ‘course-based’ approaches because they focus

on the “processes by which learners become competent and not on what is

presented to them” (Vorwerk, 2002b:14).

Learnerships:

Consist of a structured learning component

Include practical work experience of a specific nature and duration

Lead to a qualification that (a) is registered on the NQF (b) relates to a

specific occupation (Vorwerk, 2002b:14).

The learnership model embraces the following characteristics:

Learnerships

• Are demand led

• Cover any occupation in which work-based learning paths are viable

• Are intended for a broad group of learners across a broad range of

economic sectors and occupations

33

• Involve partnerships and cooperation between workplace contexts to

provide learners with the necessary spectrum of work experience. These

contexts go beyond the large, corporate segment of the economy to

include, amongst others, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs)

and the voluntary service context.

• Aim to integrate theoretical education and skills training in both the

Learning Programme and the assessment process.

• Are future orientated – they prepare learners for current work and for life-

long learning by including abilities and skills that are important for any

future occupation.

• Include general education components that are socially relevant and

personally enhancing, as well as important national issues like HIV/Aids

• Structured workplace experience is an integral part of a learnership

• Must lead to a qualification that is defined by SAQA as a minimum of 120

credits, which translates to roughly a12 month provision period.

FETIs are essential mechanisms to provide skills training for employment and to

address the human resource needs of the country.

3.5.1 Stakeholder identification and consultation One needs to remember that learnerships are ‘stakeholder rich’ interventions.

This requires stakeholders to participate and take ownership of the process from

the beginning. The identification of and consultation with key stakeholders is a

critical part of the process and its value should not be underestimated. Research

conducted by the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), (2004) on

learnership implementation processes has revealed that people tend to support

initiatives that they have been involved in creating and resist those that they have

been excluded from (de Jager, Hattingh & Hüster, 2002; Davies & Farquharson,

2004). This research recommends that “a rigorous stakeholder mapping exercise”

be carried out at the outset to identify who should be involved and what their roles

should be. This will also provide a “valuable ‘check-point’ to ensure that important

34

role-players have not been left out” (de Jager et al., 2002:5). It would be prudent

at this point to consult with any other structures involved in the process for

example the community for example. This ensures that the learner selection

process is robust and inclusive Of equal importance are the balance, timing and

extent of stakeholder involvement to avoid unnecessarily bureaucratic and

cumbersome processes (Bobat & Tandrup, 1999).

3.5.2 Stakeholder roles and accountabilities Relationships between stakeholders (workplace, training provider assessors and

mentors) can be complex and role clarity needs to be addressed as early as

possible. The team identified to manage arrangements within the institution

should bear in mind that their direct involvement in the daily running activities of

the learnership will be invaluable but, as the research on the Kwazulu Natal Pilot

project (PSDPP ll, 2002:1) revealed, this team will need problem solving and

decision making authority. The research also revealed that an ‘in-depth’

understanding of the payment, problem solving and decision making systems

involved in learnerships would be a practical way of enhancing the Quality

Assurance and Financial Management processes of the learnership. The need for

“clearly defined ‘accountability mechanisms’ as a key priority in terms of the

provider institutions’ accountability to the Department of Labour” is also critical

(Davies & Farquharson, 2004:17). Research on the PSDPP ll (2002:6-7)

highlighted the “need for a feedback mechanism to be established to ensure that

stakeholders are kept abreast of progress, problems and gaps as they occur”

(PSDPII, 2002:6-7).

3.5.3 Contractual arrangements In a learnership there is a wide range of contractual arrangements which are

essential components of the learnership. It is paramount that all contracts are

signed off prior to the commencement of any work, and delivery against the

contract should be carefully monitored. This is an integral part of the quality

assurance component of the learnership. Ongoing monitoring of delivery against

35

the contracts is an important part of the process. Research on the Kwazulu Natal

Pilot Project (PSDPP ll, 2002:11) again revealed that required performance

levels, expected milestones and appropriate sanctions for non-delivery or non-

performance need clarification.

The Centre for Skills Development and Technology Transfer (CSDTT) highlighted

the need for “clearly defined Terms of Reference (ToR) and negotiated Service

Level Agreements (SLA) before any work begins” (Davies & Farquharson,

2004:18). As was previously mentioned, monitoring of delivery is a critical

component of learnership delivery but, equally important, is the “monitoring and

evaluation of compliance of the learnership as a whole to the Seta and SAQA

requirements” (Davies & Farquharson, 2004:19). Similarly, the monitoring of the

various agents (mentors, assessors) involved in the implementation of the

learnership and the monitoring and evaluation of the individual learners on the

learnership cannot be over emphasised. In order for the monitoring and

evaluation results to be valid the purpose, objectives and targeted outcomes of

the learnership needs to be agreed upon upfront so that these become “the

‘yardstick’ against which the intervention is measured” (Davies & Farquharson,

2004:19). This will be an indication of the degree of success or failure of the

intervention. It also allows for and assists with standardization and consistency

across multiple delivery sites.

Effective administration systems that underpin all learnership implementation

activities support the monitoring and evaluation of learners and are an integral

component of quality assurance processes (Davies & Farquharson, 2004). De

Jager et al (2002:16) identified the “administration systems, which will facilitate a

provider and ensure proper monitoring of learners”. These include recruitment

and selection, tracking of learner facilitation and assessment, tracking of learner

rotation, recording of learners’ achievements against programme outcomes, and

budgeting and financial systems.

36

Learnerships as training interventions require intensive co-ordination, planning

and management in terms of the range of stakeholders involved in the process

and their required inputs for implementation. De Jager et al (2002) suggest that

learnership implementation should be managed at various levels as was

discovered in the review of the pilot learnership project in Kwazulu Natal.

Participants from the institution in this study have highlighted some of their

concerns that have also been addressed by de Jager et al (2002) and Davies and

Farquharson (2004) in terms of effective learnership implementation.

3.6 Legislative requirements The legislative framework for a learnership requires that three parties enter into

the learnership agreement, namely the employer, the training provider and the

learner. A provider is not limited to an institution or organization and can include

companies, work-based training centres, a collaboration amongst a range of

partners (organizations, institutions, companies, tuition centres, RPL centres,

assessment centres, trade testing centres, individuals, community structures)

and even some forms of consultancies (SAQA, 2001). For the purpose of this

study, the ‘provider’ will be restricted to a single FETI. The legislative

requirements for public providers, which are taken from the General and Further

Education and Training Quality Assurance (GENFETQA) Act, “deems” learning

sites to be accredited. The Education Training Quality Assurance (ETQA)

Regulations (SAQA, 2001; Department of Education, 2001) defines a provider as

“a body, which delivers learning programmes, which culminates in specified NQF

standards or qualifications, and/or manages the assessment thereof”. The SAQA

(2001:11) and the GENFETQA Act (2004) indicate that a provider is responsible

for ensuring that it maintains and improves the quality of learning provision and

learning achievements. A public provider is deemed to be accredited and must

have a quality management system, which includes but is not limited to quality

management policies and procedures, which defines that which the provider

wishes to achieve. Alternatively, a provider must have review mechanisms which

37

ensure the quality management policies and procedures that are defined are

applied and remain effective (SAQA, 2001).

SAQA (2001) also indicates that a provider must be able to deliver and evaluate

learning programmes, which culminate in specified registered standards or

qualifications (SAQA, 2001; SAQA, 2005). A provider must have the necessary

financial, administrative and physical resources to provide the service for which it

requires accreditation. The appropriate policies and practices for staff selection

and appraisal, learner entry, guidance and support systems as well as the

management of off-site practical or work-site components, where appropriate,

need to be clearly outlined. Policies and practices for the management of

assessment need to include an appeals system and a reporting procedure. The

provider’s ability to achieve the desired outcomes, using available resources

which the ETQA body considers necessary to deliver and evaluate learning

programmes which culminate in specified registered standards or qualifications,

must be established (SAQA, 2001).

The exhaustive literature available on the capacity of FETIs to deliver

learnerships will not be dealt with in this study. The focus of this minor

dissertation is the perceptions of learnership programmes by academic staff, and

the perceived challenges thereof. It is worth mentioning, however, that there are

a number of infrastructural requirements which a provider needs to comply with

in order to deliver learnership programmes successfully. These requirements are

discussed in some detail in the following section of this chapter.

3.6.1 The Quality Management System (QMS) In terms of SAQA (2001), reinforced by Umalusi endorsement of these principles

(Umalusi, 2004) a provider’s quality management system must include policies,

procedures and mechanisms for review. This means that the provider must be

able to demonstrate to the relevant ETQA that its quality management system,

which includes quality management policies and procedures as well as review

38

mechanisms, ensures that the degree of excellence specified for the provision

and assessment of programmes is achieved (SAQA, 2005).

In terms of the GENFETQA Act, public providers are “regarded as having been

accredited by the GENFETQA Council” (GENFETQA Act, 2001:4). This implies

that individual public FETIs do not need to apply for accreditation to a sector

ETQA to offer programmes at NQF levels 2 to 4 and may offer these

programmes. This however relies on a number of assumptions; the first being

that there is no policy ambiguity or conflicting discourses on the establishment of

a single co-coordinated FET sector. The second assumption is that there would

automatically be a willing embrace of the new requirements by all stakeholders

and that the respective roles and responsibilities of these stakeholders would be

clearly defined. The third assumption would be that the implementers would have

a common understanding and a shared vision of the intended expectations

(Kraak, 2001; Sooklal, 2004). Notwithstanding these assumptions, the purpose of

an FETI is clear; namely to meet the needs of unemployed youth as well as to

address the needs of adult learners who require skills upgrading or skills

retention training because of technological changes in the market place

(McGrath, 2003; Sooklal, 2004).

In order for an FETI to fulfil this mandate, I would argue that the mission

statement and objectives of the provider should indicate and reflect the degree of

excellence of the provider. This requires that the provider has a purpose that is

informed by national, sectoral, local and learner requirements within the context

of accessible, affordable and cost-effective quality systems for delivery and

assessment of learnership programmes (SAQA, 2001; Umalusi, 2004).

The provider’s purpose must be a clear and unambiguous statement of the goals

and principles by which the provider operates. This will identify the most

important values and features of the college. It will also outline and indicate the

primary objectives of the institution and of the management of the institution. A

39

statement of the areas of learning in which the provider operates and the

services provided in respect of these areas should be linked to the purpose.

Furthermore, the provider needs to identify the NQF registered standards and

qualifications and the range of services (tuition, tuition and assessment, or

assessment only) that will be provided as well as the learner audience that these

will be directed at (SAQA, 2001).

All other quality management processes, policies and strategic plans should be

reflected in and driven by the purpose statement. Parallel to this should be an

indication of how this relates to national, sectoral and local contexts. In addition,

responsiveness to change requirements should be evident, coupled with a clear

and unambiguous commitment to the learners (SAQA, 2001).

The Criteria and Guidelines for Providers (SAQA, 2001), endorsed by Umalusi

(2004), the providers’ practices should include strategic business and operational

plans, should give direction over the period of accreditation and should clearly

reflect the purpose of the provider. These plans should be realistic and should be

designed to enable the provider to meet both quality improvement and

sustainability requirements. Procedures and methods for the implementation of

plans and policies must be documented and easily available to staff, learners and

other clients. Mechanisms to monitor and review the implementation of plans and

policies must be maintained and recorded. The evaluation and amendment of

policies and plans that are implemented must be maintained and recorded

(Department of Education, 1998; SAQA, 2001; Umalusi, 2004).

According to the Criteria and Guidelines for Providers (SAQA, 2001), providers

need to ensure that they cover the following policies and practices:

• Courseware and materials development and design

• Teaching and learning services and responsibilities

40

• Learner support, access issues, authenticity of assessment evidence

and appeals systems, as well as the use of tutors, mentors and

learning resources

• The language of teaching, learning and assessment that is to be used

• Finances, fees structures and payment regulations

• Collaboration and partnerships with other institutions, industry, Seta’s

etc

• Management administration, marketing and research

• Internal quality assurance mechanisms, reviews and accreditation

(Department of Labour, 2003; SAQA, 2001; SAQA, 2005).

3.6.2 Learning programmes The delivery and evaluation of learning programmes is crucial to the

implementation of learnerships. A learning programme is defined as the

sequential learning activities associated with curriculum implementation, leading

to the achievement of a particular qualification (SAQA, 2001; SAQA, 2005).

Learning programmes consist of learning and assessment activities which are

based on the outcomes of the qualification (SAQA, 2005). Programmes need to

be flexible and designed with national needs as well as the needs of prospective

learners and employers in mind (McGrath, 2004). Their form and structure must

encourage access and needs to be responsive to changing environments.

Learning and assessment methods need to be appropriate to the aims and

purposes of the programme (Department of Education, 2000; SAQA, 2001;

SAQA; 2005; Sutton, 2005).

The elements of the programme need to include its relationship to the registered

unit standard/s or qualification in respect of learning outcomes and purpose, as

well as assessment and accreditation requirements (SAQA, 2005; Sutton, 2005).

Included in this would need to be the style of learning and teaching. Key features

of the learning environment, and learning support resources and requirements

41

need to reflect a similar relationship. The policies and practices for the

management of assessment, authenticity of assessment evidence and the

appeals system will also need to reflect its relationship to the registered unit

standard/s or qualification as well as any other requirements necessary for the

successful completion of the programme (SAQA 2001; Sutton, 2005).

Quality indicators such as relevance should be developed based on a needs

analysis of learners and the community which the provider services. Such

analysis should include an audit of existing programmes, market research,

national and provincial priorities and liaison with other education and training

institutions (SAQA, 2001; SAQA, 2005; Sutton, 2005). This will apply in instances

where theory and practice are integrated in learning provision or where

assessments are conducted outside the learning institution. Programmes should

be designed to include the integration of quality indicators in respect of

theoretical and practical learning components wherever possible and

appropriate. The programme should be designed and structured to reflect the

integration of the relevant critical cross-field outcomes, particularly those

specified in the standard or qualification (NTD, 2004; SAQA, 2001; SAQA, 2005).

In respect of the access entry requirements for programmes, these should be as

open as possible and should make provision for the recognition of prior learning

and exemptions. In addition to entry requirements, there should be a stated

language policy for programme delivery that is based on the national language

policy, on the language profile of the learners and on career and further or higher

learning contexts. This policy must be reflected in the learning materials (SAQA,

2001).

3.6.3 Financial, administrative and physical resources The governance and management of the provision of resources is a critical

aspect of learnership implementation. The relationship and lines of responsibility

42

and accountability between the staff, management and governing body of the

provider institution cannot be over emphasised.

The administrative resource requirements include a database of learner

information and records, which need to be accurately captured, maintained and

monitored. Appropriate policies and procedures governing this process need to

be established. Facilities, equipment and learning materials that support the

learning process should be appropriate to the learning services that are provided.

Suitable policies and procedures for the management, maintenance and

upgrading of facilities, resources and materials are required. Staff and learners

should be trained in the use of the materials, equipment and facilities, including

communication and information systems (SAQA, 2001; Umalusi, 2004).

Adequate financial resources are required to demonstrate that the provider is

able to sustain the learning services throughout the period of accreditation.

Proper budgetary and financial management processes need to be in place,

including the allocation of resources which are adequate to the requirements for

providing and developing quality learning services. An evaluation of the financial

policies and procedures as they relate to the goals and mission of the provider is

crucial, as the relationship between the financial system and the attainment of

the institutions’ goals and objectives needs to be evident.

3.6.4 Managing practical components Policies and practices for the components of learning delivery which do not take

place under the direct management of the provider, are also necessary.

Providers are expected to provide evidence of how they will ensure the quality of

the ‘practical’ element of the learning programme. Mechanisms for ensuring valid

‘off-site’ learning experiences and for safeguarding the rights of learners in this

process are required. As part of the system of practical learning, the provider

needs to give evidence of how the assessment of off-site learning experiences

and the maintenance of learner information will be managed.

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3.6.5 Management of assessment of learnership programmes The FET system is based on achievement of learning through the appropriate

assessment of learning outcomes specified in NQF registered standards and

qualifications. Policies and practices for the management of assessment thus

form the framework within which an institution operates. Assessment, for the

purpose of this study, is defined as the identification, gathering, interpreting and

measurement of a learner’s achievement (Department of Education, 2001).

In terms of the Criteria and Guidelines for Providers (SAQA, 2001) the following

elements, amongst others, need to be taken into account in designing,

implementing and maintaining an assessment system in an FETI running

learnerships:

• The assessment strategies must be in line with the aims and outcomes of

the learning programmes concerned, as these relate to the outcomes

specified in the unit standard and/or qualification.

• The parties involved in the assessment of learners should be appropriate

to the context and outcome and can include self-, peer and group

assessments. Moderators for assessment and even assessment monitors

can be included in this grouping.

• A range of assessment instruments can be used in the assessment of

learners. They can be designed in accordance with the context and

outcome of the qualification and/or unit standard.

• The timing of the assessment must be flexible in order to accommodate

the various and specific needs of learners.

• Assessment information (learning outcomes), assessment criteria, as well

as assessment procedures and dates must be provided to all learners and

assessors.

• Records of assessments must be kept and learners must receive timeous,

detailed and accurate feedback on their progress and performance.

44

• The processes and results of assessment must fulfil the requirements of

the NQF standards and qualifications for which the provider has been

accredited and must meet the requirements of the ETQA.

3.6.6 Appeals procedures

A critical issue underpinning good assessment systems design and management

is the appeals option. This involves ensuring that learners are able to appeal an

assessment outcome. The appeal can be directed either to the facilitator of

learning and/or assessment or to the management of the provider. Should this

route still not reap satisfactory results, a final appeal can be made to the ETQA,

which may require additional reporting procedures (SAQA, 2001, Department of

Education, 2001).

3.6.7 Learner records A provider is required to demonstrate that it has a system and the facilities for

maintaining and updating detailed information about past, present and potential

learners. This requirement is essential to be able to meet the ETQA reporting

requirements and should include the following learner information:

• Personal, demographic and contact details

• Education and training background and experience (prior qualifications,

prior learning and previous learning experiences, learning skills, language

skills and preference)

• Special or additional learning needs (relevant disabilities, learning

difficulties or necessary experience and knowledge of relevant technology)

• Resource factors (place and time of learning, access to resources

including electricity and technology, financial resources for additional

learning or support materials)

• Motivation and registration for entering a programme of learning

• Performance during the programme (internal and continuous assessment)

• Achievement during and at the end of the programme (internal and

external assessment, final assessment, award achieved) (SAQA, 2001).

45

The above information can serve many of the quality requirements for the

provider, including the evaluation of its policies and practices. Knowledge of

learners and their needs should essentially be what drives the purpose and

policies of the provider. This information should be used when designing

modules or courses within programmes or NQF registered qualifications,

materials, and learner support systems and services. Collating, updating and

reviewing this information in a formal and regular way may assist the provider to

develop a flexible and learner-centred approach to learning provision and learner

assessment.

One of the issues that must be borne in mind by all providers, both in designing

systems to store learner information and for reporting, is that of learner

confidentiality. Learner information systems should be designed taking the needs

of different users into account. Reporting and information storage requirements

need to address the interaction between the lecturer and the learner. Closing this

information loop is critical in order to prevent any communication gaps from

occurring. Providers also need to have policies in place for learner information,

which may be released, for example, to someone sponsoring the learner. In

terms of reporting on learners and their achievements, the constitutional right to

privacy needs to be taken into account when designing what and how information

will be stored for each learner. Similarly, the quality of the learning experience

requires the collection of general information about learners in order to improve

the quality of the learning experience. These are the bodies involved in the

design and development of assessments, learning materials, courses,

programmes and systems – to the extent that these are separate from the

lecturer.

3.7 Synthesis In this chapter, the concept and characteristics of learnerships was introduced

and the legislative requirements that a provider needs to fulfil when delivering

46

learnership programmes were described. It needs to be borne in mind that these

requirements are not for the exclusive delivery of learnerships but are in fact

necessary for the establishment of a coherent FET system. In other words, FETIs

should strive for the development and implementation of these requirements

irrespective of learnership delivery. In Chapter 4, the research methodology will

be discussed.

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CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction In this chapter, I will discuss the qualitative research approach followed in this

study. This chapter will provide an account of the research design and will

describe the methods of data collection and analysis. I will describe how the

interviews were conducted and include in this section a thematic description of

the data I collected. Extracts from the interviews supplement the analyses and

link to insights gained from the literature study. I conclude this section with an

outline of how the data were analysed.

4.2 Qualitative research approach I used a qualitative approach to conduct this study as this approach suits the type

of investigation that will take place at an FETI. Furthermore, a qualitative

methodology allows for the capturing of both language and behaviour (Maykut &

Morehouse, 1993). The aims of this study are to investigate the perceptions of

academic staff and their perceived challenges with respect to the implementation

of learnerships in an FETI. I wanted to be able to interact with the participants in

a way that goes beyond quantifying responses and to be able to provide a picture

of their worlds. Studying participants’ words makes it possible to gain deeper

insight into understanding their emotions and experiences, as the following

quotation suggests “Qualitative research places emphasis on understanding

through looking closely at people’s words, actions and records” (Maykut &

Morehouse, 1993:92).

Qualitative research aims to provide an in-depth understanding of people’s

experiences, perspectives and/or histories in the context of their personal

circumstances or settings. It is characterized by a concern with exploring

phenomena from the perspective of those being studied, using unstructured

48

methods which are sensitive to the social context of the study (Henning, 2002;

Patton, 2000; Smit, 2006). The data captured are detailed, rich and complex; and

it is mainly an inductive interpretive process rather than a deductive analytic one.

It allows for developing explanations at the level of meaning or micro-social

processes rather than context-free laws. Qualitative research is used for a range

of purposes including identifying the factors that contribute to successful or

unsuccessful delivery, identifying outcomes (intended or unintended) and how

they occur, examining the nature of the requirements of different groups within

the target population, exploring the contexts in which policies operate and

exploring organizational aspects of delivery (Henning, 2002; Patton, 2000; Smit,

2006).

The fundamental concern of this type of research is ‘making meaning’ while

seeking to understand the social actors’ understanding of situations as well as

endeavouring to create “descriptive analyses that emphasize deep, interpretive

understanding of social phenomena” (Henning, van Rensburg & Smit, 2004:21).

The focus is on lived experiences, and the social relations that structure these

experiences and incidents and are understood within social and economic

contexts (Henning et al., 2004). The discourse of qualitative researchers consists

of cases and contexts and the emphasis is on detailed examination of cases in

their natural setting. Qualitative researchers attempt to present authentic

interpretations that are sensitive to specific social-historical contexts (Henning et

al., 2004; Neuman, 2000; Patton, 2002; Vulliamy, 1994).

An understanding of a situation as the participants construct it is what I will try to

accomplish in this study. I will attempt to capture and understand what people

say and do and how they interpret their worlds. In order to accomplish this, it was

necessary for me to develop an empathic understanding of the feelings, motives

and thoughts underlying the behaviour and actions of the participants. Qualitative

researchers are inclined to use data collection techniques such as semi-

49

structured interviews, which produce data in the form of words. People are able

to understand their situation through words, as their worlds are created through

words (Maykut & Morehouse, 1993; Neuman, 2000; Patton, 2002). “Using the

subjects’ words better reflects the postulates of the qualitative paradigm”

according to Maykut and Morehouse (1993:50). This approach is particularly

suitable for a study of the processes of education and training and for the

evaluation of innovations, “where divergences between policy and practice can

be highlighted through sensitivity to the unintended, as well as intended,

outcomes of innovation” (Vulliamy, 1994:25).

A qualitative approach was particularly pertinent for this study as I was able to

interpret the participants’ verbal responses and identify common themes

(Neuman, 2000; Patton, 2002). I would not have been able to uncover the in-

depth information that has been collected had I used a quantitative design for this

study (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Neuman, 2000). In certain cases, qualitative

researchers may use quantitative data-collection methods, while quantitative

researchers may use qualitative methods (Merriam, 1998).

4.3 The research design 4.3.1 Introduction In this study, I endeavoured to recognise the relationships between theory and

data and I took cognisance of the wider social processes that impact on the FETI

where the research was conducted, as May (1994, in Vulliamy, 1994:50) advises.

I utilised purposive sampling and I employed a semi-structured interview as the

data collection method. The data was analysed inductively rather than

deductively. One of the advantages of this methodology is that it allows the

researcher access to ‘information-rich’ participants for an in-depth study without

wishing to generalize from the sample to the population. The theoretical

saturation of the data determined the size of the sample. The methodology also

allows for the deliberate inclusion of ‘outliners’ (University of Northern Arizona,

50

1997 revised, 2005:1). The socio-dynamics of the research process show that

the people involved define both the social contexts and the specific situation of a

research programme. It was necessary for me to recognise the socio-dynamic

pattern of the research process in order to position myself in this process. The

interactional patterns of the researcher are dependent upon the behaviour of the

individual participants involved. In this study, the educators’ established their

purpose in the situational context through the actions and interactions of the

researcher (Neuman, 2000; Patton, 2002; Schratz, 1993). The socio-dynamic

pattern of the research process is depicted in the following figure (figure 4.1),

which indicates that a dynamic relationship exists between the researcher and

the participant.

Interaction Researcher Educators

HERE NOW

Social context

Figure 4.1: The socio-dynamic pattern of the research process Adapted from Schratz (1993:58)

Neuman (2000:352) describes a site as “the context in which events or

activities occur, a socially defined territory with shifting boundaries”. The site

chosen for this study was a single FETI with several delivery sites in the

Gauteng region. This FETI is diverse in its capacity to offer learnerships. A

researcher needs to consider three factors when selecting sites for field

research, namely richness of data, unfamiliarity and suitability. “Rich data”

refers to the collections of data from a site that will provide considerable

information (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994:65; Hoepfl, 1994:78). “Unfamiliarity” in this

51

instance refers to the researcher’s knowledge of the institution. It is important

that the researcher is relatively unfamiliar in order to avoid bias. Finally,

“suitability” of the site is imperative as the site selected should be suitable to

the type of investigation to be conducted (Denzin, 2001:79; Smit, 2006). The

FETI with several delivery sites that I chose was rich in data, generally

unfamiliar to me and suitable for the type of study that I conducted. The

chosen sites were suitable for the type of study that I conducted because

learnerships culminating in qualifications registered on the NQF could be

implemented at any or all of the delivery sites.

4.3.2 Purposive sampling

Ten participants were interviewed. Three of the participants were members of the

teaching staff who interacted daily with students. Three participants were heads

of department who each had approximately ten staff members who reported to

them. Three were members of the management team who did not teach at all but

were involved in the strategic decision making processes of the institution. One

participant was the assessments officer whose primary function was to ensure

that all assessments done at the college were legitimate and uncompromised.

Sampling is the process of “selecting a number of study units from a defined

study population” (International Development Research Centre, 2005). Purposive

sampling is done according to criteria relevant to a particular research question.

It uses people who can help find the answer(s) to the research question(s) posed

(Henning, 2004). These “desirable participants” as Henning (1994:71) refers to

them, are chosen based on the researcher’s knowledge of the topic and are

selected at the time at which they are needed. They represent a theoretical

population and are spokespersons for the topic. They are not representative of a

population and one cannot generalize the findings from the interviews to a

population (Henning, 2004). It is important to note that it is not possible to draw

statistical inferences utilising this kind of sampling method since, with a purposive

sample, the number of people interviewed is less important than the criteria used

52

to select them. I used this particular technique for the collection of exploratory

data in the form of the lived experiences of a specific population (Northern

Arizona University, 1997, accessed 31/01/2006).

The participants were chosen for this study because they have particular

knowledge and experience, which enabled detailed exploration of the research

objectives. This study was conducted in one public FETI, with several delivery

sites; I invited staff members to speak to me about learnership implementation. A

written invitation explained to them what I was doing and what I was requesting

from them in terms of their participation. The invitation also informed all

interviewees that their participation would be in the form of a tape-recorded

interview which would be easy to transcribe and analyse later on. The advantage

of tape-recording the interviews is that a verbatim transcription of recorded

interviews provides the best database for analysis. Permission was sought from

all interviewees to have the interviews recorded. I felt it prudent to invite anyone

who would be willing to participate and share his or her views on learnership

implementation.

The participants, based on their availability, accepted the invitation to participate

in this study. I telephonically contacted each participant to secure an appointment

to conduct the interview. All participants were members of the academic staff at

the FETI, ranging from senior lecturers to heads of department and some

members of the management team. These participants, in my opinion, were

sufficiently ‘information rich’ to provide their perceptions of learnerships and the

implementation thereof.

The telephonic discussion with staff members regarding their participation in this

study gave them an opportunity to mentally prepare for my visit and also to

satisfy themselves that they would be sufficiently comfortable to participate. This

was a particularly useful exercise as some of the participants were nervous at the

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prospect of a recorded interview and these pre-interview discussions seemed to

set them at ease in terms of their expectations and their contributions.

The transcription of recorded interviews was an extensive and time-consuming

exercise. Bearing in mind the possibility that information could be distorted or

exaggerated, I found it necessary to crosscheck and compare one interviewee’s

account with the accounts given by other interviewees in order to detect and

correct distortion (Merriam, 1998). The transcriptions of the tape recordings were

given to each interviewee for corrective and elaborative comments and

verification. Participants either confirmed or corrected my interpretation of the

interviews.

4.3.3 Data collection method In order to understand the factors influencing learnership implementation it is

important to acknowledge that there are a number of role players in the process. If

we are to understand what influences learnership implementation at an

operational level, it is important to consider the individual perceptions of the

various role-players in the implementation chain. In this section, I document a

narrative built on the semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the

academic staff, allowing these staff members an opportunity to provide

information from their various perspectives.

I used qualitative interviews as my primary instrument of data collection.

Interviews are one of the most important sources of information (Yin, 1994:94). I

was guided by literature on qualitative interviewing techniques in the development

of the questions in the instrument used. I developed a few basic questions, which

were reviewed by my supervisor and revised according to the suggestions and

comments provided. Qualitative interviews allow the participant to describe what

is meaningful or important to him/her using his/her own words rather than being

restricted to predetermined categories; thus, participants may feel more relaxed

and able to be candid. It allows the interviewer to probe for more detail and to

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ensure that participants are interpreting questions the way in which they were

intended. Interviewers have the flexibility to use their knowledge, expertise and

interpersonal skills to explore interesting or unexpected ideas that the participants

may raise (Sewell, accessed February 2006).

4.4 Interviews As I mentioned earlier I interviewed ten staff members at one FETI located in the

Gauteng region. The participants were selected because of their position within

the college. None of the participants were junior members of staff in terms of the

number of years of service at the college. I chose staff members who had been

at the college for longer than 5 years because I felt that staff who had fewer than

five years of exposure in the college environment would have a less realistic view

of how things work in an FET environment. They would also not have been part

of the change process from technical college to FETI.

Interviews were my main source of data collection, and I chose face-to-face

interviews to collect rich data (Yin, 1994; Neuman, 2000; Patton, 2002). The

information is reported and interpreted through the eyes of specific, information-

rich participants, and can provide important insights into the situation under

investigation. The purpose of semi-structured interviews is to gain access to the

viewpoint of the individual being interviewed in order to uncover what cannot be

directly observed, such as thoughts, emotions and intentions. Since it is not

possible to observe the meanings that individuals attach to events and situations

in the world it is necessary to enquire by questioning how the individual ‘feels’

and what he or she ‘thinks’. It is necessary to probe beneath the surface or

assumed meaning and I was able to do this, as is evidenced by the copious data

that I collected by means of the interviews (Patton, 2002).

Non-standardised interviews are particularly suited to qualitative research

because of the social relationship, which involves social norms and expectations

and serves an explicit purpose (Maykut, & Morehouse, 1995; Neuman, 2000).

55

The information is elicited from the participants in the form of a semi-structured

conversation. This is of particular importance when participants’ perspectives and

the meanings that they construct are being investigated. Many factors can

influence an interview and interviewer bias needs to be carefully monitored

(Maykut, & Morehouse, 1995).

Qualitative interviews are typically characterised by a few open-ended questions

that encourage dialogue rather than dictating the course of the interview

(Henning et al., 2001). The ordering of questions is less important. I chose this

method because it allowed me to probe interesting points more deeply and follow

each respondent’s concerns (Montague, 2005). The researcher engages with the

social world of the interviewee and treats the respondents as experts telling their

own story, which is what I needed. It is a collaborative enterprise in which both

participant and researcher are actively engaged (Montague, 2005). Qualitative

interviews allow for in-depth coverage of a topic and can raise issues that

previously may not have been considered (Montague, 2005). Participants are

able to enlighten the researcher about actual experiences and such interviews

may therefore produce particularly rich, detailed data. Qualitative interviews are

generally a very time consuming method of data generation and, at times, one

may need to guide the respondent back to the topic at hand. Alternatively,

however, the diversion may prove very meaningful (Montague, 2005).

Interviews should always be considered to be verbal reports; they are subject to

bias, poor recall and poor and inaccurate articulation (Patton, 2002). Seidman

(1991) advises the interviewer to be a good listener. I encouraged the

participants to talk at length about their feelings, attitudes and experiences, as

these related to their perceptions of learnership implementation and any

perceived challenges in this regard. These interviews were an opportunity for

staff to talk comfortably in a conversational manner, which allowed the

interviewees to be relaxed and candid. The interviews granted me the

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opportunity to explore the perceptions and perceived challenges that participant

staff faces in implementing learnerships in the FETI concerned.

The interviews were tape recorded for analysis purposes and so that I would

have evidence of the interviews as an audit trail. I made copious field notes to

supplement the recordings. The recordings were subsequently transcribed

verbatim and coded for analysis. Data gathered from these interviews indicated

what the participant staff’s perceptions, emotions and attitudes were with regard

to learnerships and the perceived challenges they face.

The following main questions were asked during the interview: “What are your

perceptions of learnerships?” and “What challenges do you face in learnership

programme delivery?” Follow-up questions varied slightly, depending on the

situation and participants’ responses. In many cases, participants did not need

much prompting as they spoke honestly and informatively.

Each interview was started with an introduction of the topic, followed by an

overview of the purpose of the research and the interview. Starting each

interview in the same way set a consistent tone for each interview. It also gave

each participant an opportunity to decide at that point whether they were still

willing and able to continue with the interview or not. It further provided an

opportunity for participants to clarify their expectations and locate themselves

within the framework of the interview. I assured participants once again that

participation in this study was purely voluntary and that their identities would

remain anonymous. I also reiterated to each participant his/her freedom to

withdraw from the study at any point with no reprisal. I referred to the copious

field notes I made during each interview when I the transcribed the interviews.

4.5 Analysis of data I began coding all the data as recommended by Neumann (2000) and organised

all raw data into conceptual categories, identifying themes or concepts as they

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emerged. I identified themes and assigned initial codes in an attempt to

condense the mass of data into workable categories. These initial themes were

at a low level of abstraction, and emanated from my initial research questions.

The following codes were assigned: general impressions of learnerships; funding

knowledge; awareness; understanding; apprenticeship system versus

learnership system; staff morale; staff motivation; staff general interest in college

activities; company/ industry perceptions of college and learnerships;

interpretation of qualifications and unit standards; curriculum design; courseware

development; quality of courseware; learnership implementation processes;

learnership management processes; college management processes; college

resourcing; college bureaucracy; equity issues and college infrastructure. I then

consulted the field notes made during the data collection phase. These analytic

notes served to confirm in some cases the codes that I had already assigned

(Neuman, 2000).

In the second step of the coding process, the aim is to make connections

between codes, categories and sub-categories as they emerged from the raw

data during coding (Neuman, 2000). Making connections requires the researcher

to concentrate on the initial codes and to identify overlaps. I concentrated on the

initial coded themes and attempted to organise ideas and themes, and examined

causes, consequences, conditions, interactions and processes. I then and

decided which categories and sub-categories were necessary and which were

subsumable under a major theme. Finally, after identifying all the major

categories and sub-categories, I was ready to identify major themes.

The processes of arranging themes into clusters involved scanning data and

scanning previous codes. At this point in the analysis process, researchers look

for cases illustrating themes and make comparisons and contrasts. This process

requires the researcher to sift through field notes to look for differences,

compromises and conflict. It is also necessary, according to Maykut and

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Morehouse (1994), for the researcher to be aware of his or her own biases and

preconceptions, and how these may impact on what he or she is trying to

understand.

In qualitative research designs, the researcher could be perceived as the main

‘instrument’ of data collection. According to Creswell (1994:145), “data is

mediated through this human instrument, rather than through inventories,

questionnaires or machines”. Although there are several advantages to this

design, one of the consequences is that researchers could bring personal biases

to their studies (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992; Goetz & LeCompte, 1984; Marshall &

Rossman, 1995; Wolcott, 1995).

I worked interpretatively in analyzing the data. My aim was to produce an

understanding of the context of learnership implementation in the FET College

and the perceived challenges that influence the implementation of learnerships.

All interviews were tape recorded and transcribed fully and complemented by my

field notes as explained in the section on research design (Neuman, 2000). Data

analysis requires a researcher to “find meaning using qualitative content analysis”

(Henning, et al. 2004:104). This process requires “analytical craftsmanship and

the ability to capture understanding of data in writing by first reading through the

transcriptions a few times in order to develop a familiarity with the data” (Henning

et al., 2004:101). The better the researcher knows the data the more competent

she will be in labelling the units of meaning (Henning, et al., 2004). From the

corpus of raw data, I proceeded to identify and label the smallest units of

meaning. Once these units of meaning or codes had been designated, they could

be grouped into categories. The responses of each individual from the various

interviews were compared to categorize the responses with a view to identifying

patterns and trends, divergent responses and possible explanations. This

provided a common structure in order to compare the data. This information was

then manually crossed–checked with the data generated through the interviews,

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in order to provide a ‘thick description’ of the specificities of the research context.

According to Goetz (1975), the very ‘thickness’ or richness and complexity of the

description is itself a suitable and sufficient form of verification. My intention was

to uncover and describe the meaning of what I had observed.

It was my responsibility as the researcher to identify patterns within the

participants’ words and to submit those patterns for others to examine, while

simultaneously remaining in close proximity to the construction of the world as

the participants initially experienced it. In attempting to analyse the data I

followed Neuman’s dictum: “Data analysis means a search for patterns in data of

recurrent behaviours, objects or a body of knowledge in order to uncover the

meanings attached to participants’ discourse by searching for clues to the

multiple meanings inherent in their discourse” (Neuman, 2000:426). Henning et

al (2004) echo this sentiment. In addition, I attempted to progress from the

narrative (description) of an event or social setting to a general interpretation of

its meaning. Typical of qualitative research, data analysis was an ongoing,

inductive process rather than a deductive one (Neuman, 2000). 4.5.1 Perceptions of learnerships This section is an overview of the themes that emerged from the data analysis of

how the participants in this study saw learnerships and what, in their opinions,

impeded or influenced learnership implementation at the FETI concerned. The

following themes will be discussed:

4.5.2 General perceptions Most of the participants who were interviewed felt that, in general, learnerships

are a “good thing”. Two felt that learnerships were not working and two indicated

that they did not particularly care whether learnerships worked or not as long as

the learners who came through the system were qualified and able to do the job

required of them. The participants who felt that learnerships are a “good thing”

however indicated a number of provisos to this perception. The first proviso was

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that learnerships would only work if they were implemented properly. The second

proviso was that there would need to be a lot more support provided and

advocacy done with staff at the college before any real tangible results would be

visible. The participants who felt that learnerships were not working felt that

learnerships were, at best, a “watered down” apprenticeship that were doomed to

failure and they questioned the need to put any effort into it. They also felt that the

general staff complement and the management team did not know enough about

learnerships to implement them successfully.

Some of the staff members who were interviewed were not entirely comfortable

talking about what happened in the college with respect to learnerships. In spite

of their uneasiness, they did express the opinion that, theoretically, learnerships

were a very good thing because the theory and practical competent were

integrated and learners received some exposure to the workplace. Learnerships,

in their opinion, were not at all like the previous system (Interviewee L;

Interviewee Y). They felt that, in general, the management team of the college

and many fellow colleagues did not know enough about learnerships to

implement them.

Several of the participants indicated that the principle of integration was very

good. However, a concern was raised that management at the college were not

getting their relationship with industry right at both a practical and logistical level

(Interviewee T; Interviewee C; Interviewee N). Some of the participants were of

the opinion that no-one gave much thought to how public providers would need

to implement learnership programmes.

4.5.3 Knowledge, awareness and understanding There was consensus amongst all the participants that there was generally a lack

of knowledge, awareness and understanding among themselves and colleagues

of what learnerships were. Participants felt that they did not know what

learnerships entailed in terms of implementation and what was needed to

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successfully implement learnership programmes. One of the participants

indicated that there was a colleague whose function it was to advocate the

concept of learnerships as well as investigating how learnerships fitted into the

NQF. This person was also tasked with ensuring that members of staff are made

aware of the mandate of the college in respect of learnership delivery. This

person felt that, while it was a step in the right direction, he/she was not

convinced that the mechanism adopted to advocate learnerships was necessarily

effective or sufficient. The brief of the above portfolio was to present orientation

programmes for staff regarding learnerships in terms of both the legislative

requirements as well as the broader context such as the human resource

development strategy (HRDS) and the FET mandate. Despite the existence of

this mechanism, the staff members who were interviewed indicated that they

lacked knowledge and understanding of what learnerships were and how they

were expected to implement them.

The participants expressed concern that, in their opinion, the decision makers in

the college lacked the foresight to initiate learnership programmes and did not

want to take responsibility for driving learnership programmes. One respondent

indicated that “I don’t think anyone wants to take responsibility here” (Interviewee

L). All the participants indicated that there was also a sense of abandonment by

the provincial department of education in terms of the support the staff was led to

believe they would receive for learnership implementation. One participant stated

that “I think that colleges need to get much more support from government”

(Interviewee C).

All the participants indicated that they did not really understand learnerships nor

did they really understand what the requirements were to implement learnership

programmes successfully. For example, one respondent indicated that he “did not

know what was expected” of him (Interviewee S).

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Another participant indicated that, in his opinion, the decision makers in the

college were under the impression that learnerships could be run, like the old

apprenticeships, “slightly haphazardly” (Interviewee L).

A number of the participants expressed a concern that in their opinion the college

had neither the infrastructure nor the expertise to run learnership programmes

effectively (Interviewee C; Interviewee L; Interviewee N). One respondent

indicated that he had recommended to the college academic board that they

should decide on “one learnership that we can cope with and set up a dedicated

team to run that learnership from beginning to end” (Interviewee L). He had

recommended who the team should consist of and had set out what the team

should do in order to get learnerships started but the proposal was not accepted.

In his opinion, this reflected the lack of knowledge and understanding of

learnerships by the decision makers and suggested that perhaps his colleagues

were under the impression that they could offer a learnership in the workshops. It

was his opinion that many members of staff thought that the Seta would deliver

the learnership “lock, stock and barrel” and “we can run it like the old

apprenticeship system, haphazardly” (Interviewee L).

4.5.4 Technical capacity of staff A strong criticism was that the college was not able to implement and

successfully run learnership programmes because many of the junior staff

members (staff appointed in the previous five years) were not technically trained

despite having entered the technical college system with a technical teacher’s

diploma. Furthermore, none of the junior staff members had actually spent any

time in a workshop environment nor had any of them learnt a specific technical

proficiency, i.e. a trade (Interviewee L; Interviewee T; Interviewee N). Participants

indicated that, in their opinion, if an individual had not gone through the rigours of

a technical proficiency training programme such as an apprenticeship, that

person would not have a “feel for” or an ability to recognize the requisite diligence

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and concomitant behaviour that was required to master such technical proficiency

(Interviewee T).

One respondent used the example of a generic skills programme being run at the

college at the time. This programme’s duration was 13 weeks and was run from

the college workshops. The programme covered some generic principles of

handling hand tools. No specific operating skills were taught in this programme.

This respondent’s concern was that neither the learners nor the staff involved with

the facilitation of the programme “showed any diligence even after six weeks on a

workbench. They don’t seem to know the reason for needing to work in a

particular way” (Interviewee T). Another participant who spoke about another

programme, which was being offered over 12 weeks at the time, echoed this

sentiment. His concern was that if that programme were turned into a full

learnership the FETI would still have a problem because “we don’t have the

skilled people to facilitate the tuition anyway” (Interviewee W).

Many of the programmes offered by the FETI concerned were still offered on a

“chalk-and-talk basis” with a very small practical component because as one

respondent indicated, “We do not have the equipment, we don’t have the

infrastructure and we don’t have the technically competent staff to offer a learner

what he needs, to become competent on a learnership programme. This is not

what the learner is going to face in industry” (Interviewee N). Other participants in

this study concurred and felt that the learners at the college were being

disadvantaged by being taught technical programmes by staff who had

themselves not completed a technical proficiency programme. As one participant

put it “this is a technical college after all!” (Interviewee, N).

Several participants indicated that some staff had been appointed because they

have a technical teacher’s diploma. However, the opinion was expressed that

these staff had not received any practical training nor had any workshop training

or experience, therefore they could not be expected to teach learners workshop

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practices. “These so called technical teachers’ diplomas cover technical teaching

methodology and not actual technical proficiency training” (Interviewee T).

Juxtaposed with the belief stated above is the opinion of several participants that

staff who have been at the college for upwards of ten years were equally unable

to implement learnership programmes because they were in fact out of touch with

technological advances in industry. One participant pointed out that “the people

who are supposed to be involved in the running of learnerships have been out of

industry too long so they are out of touch with the latest technology” (Interviewee

C). Participants said that, in their opinion, the primary concern should be that at

the end of the process the learners who had received training via the learnership

route had to be competent. One participant felt that “learners on learnership

programmes are exiting the system no more competent in a vocational skill than

they were when they entered the system” (Interviewee H).

One participant felt that even the learners who were exiting the system on the

National Education (NATED) programmes at the highest level, which is a National

Technical Certificate 6 (NTC), without the concomitant “practical exposure, is

effectively unqualified as an artisan or whatever they are called these days”

(Interviewee H).

All the participants highlighted a lack of personnel within the college ranks who

are suitably trained with sufficient technical skill and experience to be able to

provide sustainable programmes that would contribute to the alleviation of the

skills deficit and, ultimately, the growing unemployment that many of these young

students would face.

4.5.5 Funding and management Funding was identified as a major challenge to the implementation of learnership

programmes. Interviewee L made the point that it was not so much that the

college did not have the resources but rather the fact that resources were not

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being made available: “… we’ve got stuff but no-one wants to make it available

and no-one wants to spend money. If resources were made available we would

be able to run learnerships but we need to manage it better” (Interviewee L).

Some participants’ perceptions were that management did not want to find or

devise mechanisms of accessing funding, which added to the dilemma in the

college (Interviewee S).

A number of participants highlighted another concern regarding the cost of

equipment required for learners to do the practical components of programmes.

Some of the practical programmes that were potentially lucrative had a

substantial initial price implication. Participants indicated that because of fiscal

constraints, a number of these programmes had been left in abeyance and in

some instances had been discontinued. This had left many of the critical skills

identified by the various sectors, which the college could have contributed to

alleviating, unaddressed.

Interviewee C provided a different perspective regarding the funding issue.

His/her position was that “… colleges don’t have the money to run learnerships

because the college does not get funding from the government for learnerships

like it does for NATED programmes” (Interviewee C). Interviewee T echoed this

sentiment in terms of the effect learnership implementation has on the staff

complement and reiterated that “I think when it comes down to money we are

accountable for our staff complement from the Gauteng Department of Education

(GDE) and they are not prepared to increase staff ratios. Practical classes that

are offered, require a smaller ratio of facilitator to learner than a theory class.” He

indicated that the institution had not managed to organise the logistics of utilizing

existing staff for learnership type programmes efficiently and cost effectively. At

the time, existing staff members were taken out of the classroom and utilized for

learnership programmes. This meant that there would be one lecturer from the

available pool short to teach a NATED programme. This lecturer would have to

be replaced if the desired number of students doing NATED programmes were to

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be maintained. “The NATED-programme ratios need to be maintained because

this is where we get our funding from” (Interviewee T). This, in his opinion, was

one of the biggest challenges the staff faced with regard to learnerships.

Interviewee W provided yet another perspective on the funding issue and inferred

that one of the reasons that the college was unable to run learnerships

successfully was because the part-time classes, which used to be a major source

of revenue, had been terminated. He made the accusation that “… these guys

came into the merger and cut the part-time classes”. The part-time classes,

according to this participant, brought in substantial revenue per trimester, income

that was no longer available. In his opinion, people were “allowed to paralyse a

system without any accountability” (Interviewee W). He indicated that the domino

effect this had had on student numbers, the loss of competent staff and the

closing of campuses were unacceptable. In his opinion, this was a crucial reason

for the college not being in a position to fund learnerships itself.

Participants expressed the view that the college system was bureaucratic with

respect to decision-making processes, funding and budgetary processes as well

as the campus management process. One participant commented that

“management don’t know what they are doing; they sit in their offices and think up

work for us to do” (Interviewee S). More substantiated arguments were made

about a lack of decentralised decision making capacity and the fact that “every

single decision made at respective delivery sites has to be ratified by the central

office, from the acquisition of additional staff to the ordering of stationery”

(Interviewee N).

Existing management systems at the college, including the information

management systems, were a cause for concern for several of the participants,

believed that the administration systems were not effective in managing the

programmes that were being delivered. One participant indicated that “The

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current system is ineffective; we could not even do enrolments for our previous

student intake properly” (Interviewee L).

Several participants indicated that the planning for learnership programmes was

poorly executed. One participant believed that once a learnership was tendered

for, there was no follow through in terms of the planning for the next step in the

process, such as the need for extra staff as one example. Another participant

was of the opinion that “When we decide on doing a learnership we just take

people from wherever they are in the college and slot them in as they are

needed. There are no trajectories mapped so that every one knows what the next

step in the process is going to be. We seem to work on a good–enough principle.

It’s chaos, and when it doesn’t work, we send those people back to where they

came from. It becomes nothing more than crisis management” (Interviewee T).

According to this participant, no effort was made to establish what went wrong or

why things did not work as planned. “We chalk it up to a bad learning curve and

move on as if nothing happened and a few months down the line we try again”

(Interviewee T).

4.5.6 Curriculum and courseware A few participants indicated that, in their opinion, the college needed to “sort out”

areas of concern such as curriculum design and material development in order to

compete with other colleges and to a quality product.

According to one participant the “… programme delivery models need further

development and coordination with a goal and very clear objectives of what we

need in order to reach a more versatile clientele” (Interviewee L). One participant

felt that the “non existent practical components of some programmes” were a

source of major concern and felt that, without a certain percentage of the

programme incorporating a practical component for the learners the challenge of

producing competent people for the market place would continue (Interviewee S).

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One of the participants indicated that he had made a recommendation to the

academic board that the staff, as respective subject matter experts, be involved in

the writing of course material and be relieved of their teaching function. However,

he said that “… people cannot be expected to do this for nothing” (Interviewee Y).

He indicated that attempts had been made to get various staff groupings together

to do this but the inevitable question of payment for overtime spent on this was

always raised. Concern was expressed regarding reimbursement for work done

after college hours. As one respondent pointed out, the “guys are not prepared to

do it anymore” (Interviewee Y). Several of the technical college programmes

which were accredited by the former Industry Training Boards (ITBs) translated

fairly readily into learnerships accredited by the Setas and registered by the DoL

when the ITBs were dissolved (DoL, 2004). However, very few, if any, of these

had courseware that reflects the NQF registered qualification available. In this

respondent’s opinion, the issue of learnership course material was not going to be

resolved unless the college management realized that “without the courseware

we cannot run a learnership programme” (Interviewee Y, 2005).

Interviewee Y asked rhetorical questions which, in his opinion, had not been

answered by the decision makers at the college, about some of the logistical

arrangements regarding staff being involved in the writing of courseware. These

questions related to the contingency arrangements for students who would be

affected by staff being allocated to writing courseware. Secondly, process issues

of quality assurance and quality control of the writing of courseware were raised.

The last issue, which was raised, was the issue of reimbursement for overtime

worked while developing course material. One respondent indicated that they

also had a problem with staff who felt that writing course material was not part of

their job description and could not be enforced.

Participants mentioned that colleagues had indicated that as far as they were

concerned writing course material for learnerships was not part of their jobs. One

respondent who highlighted this issue said that the college faced a twin dilemma

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in his opinion. On the one hand, he agreed that, in the past, writing courseware

had never been the lecturers’ job. Syllabi for all NATED programmes were issued

to the colleges by the Department of Education and textbooks were generally

easily available from bookshops. With the introduction of learnerships, this

arrangement did not exist and teaching staff at colleges were faced with the need

to develop curricula and write the courseware for the various learnerships it

wished to offer. This presented a challenge for many staff because for many

years they simply had to follow a prescribed syllabus. This problem was

compounded by the fact that staff would not necessarily receive any remuneration

for this work because learnerships are not funded by the Department of

Education.

In addition, colleges are not able to access funding from the Department of

Labour or the Setas directly. When staff are able to develop the requisite

courseware there is always the risk of the teaching staff being too scantily spread

to cope with the number of students who have enrolled. Inevitably, the students

would be disadvantaged because staff would not be available to teach because

they would be involved with the writing of courseware or vice versa. In the event

that teaching staff do fulfil the function of compiling the requisite courseware, the

issue of quality of the product becomes a contentious issue. This college has an

academic board which is responsible for ensuring the quality of curriculum

development and courseware. One participant, however, was of the opinion that

they tend to take a flaccid and reflexive stance on the quality of the courseware

content design and development (Interviewee N).

4.5.7 Staff morale and interest Participants indicated that another major challenge was that of staff interest and

staff morale. Interviewee S indicated that, in his opinion, a number of people at

the college refused to change because they thought that what had been good

enough for the previous 25 years should be good enough for the next 25 years. In

this participant’s opinion “… they don’t seem to care that technology has changed

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and so must we” (Interviewee N). Interviewee N said that the lack of staff

involvement in the writing of courseware was just one of the manifestations of the

morale of staff which was “in negative territory so you cannot get people

interested” (Interviewee N). Interviewee H also reflected this sentiment when he

said, “I know nothing, I see nothing, and I hear nothing. I am not involved in

anything. I change nothing. The system must change; I can’t change it”

(Interviewee H).

Interviewee A also indicated that “… the staff are very negative not only about

learnerships but about all aspects of life in the college”. In his opinion, there was

a lack of interest from management and staff, about everything that happens at

the college. Interviewee A said that in his opinion “… you know the writing is on

the wall when it takes more than 14 months to get a small project off the ground

because no-one wants to take a decision”. Interviewee A inferred that, in his

opinion, no one at the college was interested in the needs of the learner “… they

are all in it for self gain”. Interviewee C echoed this sentiment and highlighted

that, in his opinion, “… the staff motivation is extremely low and members of staff

don’t want to get involved in anything”. Interviewee N said that there were a

number of programmes run for the staff to build their capacity to deliver

learnership programmes and to be more effective in their teaching methodologies

but these had not been very successful in his opinion. He mentioned the example

of trying to encourage staff to attend the assessors training programme, which

was made available for staff but “… you can’t even get people to go on an

assessor’s course” (Interviewee N).

4.5.8 State involvement A few participants felt that learnerships should be run on a block release type

arrangement with much more support from the state. The opinion expressed was

that perhaps learnerships should be subsidized by the state, similarly to the way

in which the NATED programmes were subsidized. In their opinion, this would

alleviate at least some of the financial challenges colleges face regarding the

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implementation of learnership programmes. Some participants also felt that the

support received from both National and Provincial Education Departments has

been nothing short of abysmal.

4.5.9 Industry perceptions According to Interviewee T, there was another difficulty that the provider had to

face, namely the impression from industry that as a public provider they should

provide training at a fraction of the cost that a private provider would. This

participant felt that, if learnerships were to be a sustainable part of the FET

landscape then, it was imperative that when a quotation was submitted to a

company who wished to use the FETI as the provider in a learnership

programme, all potential costs to be incurred by the provider would need to be

factored into the equation. This should “include the cost of the labour component

in the form of the staff that would need to be either recruited from outside or

replaced should resident capacity be used” (Interviewee T). Staff members at

FETIs are paid by the state (DoE), so when staff has to be utilized for functions

outside the confines of the DoE, such as learnership programme delivery, a

perception was created that the college was engaging in dubious financial

activities. The college is “accused of double dipping when we try and compensate

for the cost of staff that need to be replaced” (Interviewee T).

According to this participant it was difficult “when industry want to get their staff

trained but they are not prepared to pay public FETIs for services rendered but

would pay up to double the price at private institutions” (Interviewee T).

Interviewee N also indicated that the industries that the college was associated

with were apathetic towards training. Their view of training was restricted to the

narrow concepts of skills acquisition. The industries that they had been involved

with rarely saw the necessity to train staff beyond the requirements of the job,

irrespective of how narrow that skill range was. Interviewee T echoed this

sentiment by adding that this was symptomatic, in his opinion, “of a legacy of

employer indifference to the need to train staff” (Interviewee T). He felt that “it is

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sad to think that industry, by comparison, has so much money at their disposal

yet spending some of that on training is just not high on their list of priorities”

(Interviewee T).

In the following section, I will interpret the data that has been analysed above.

4.6 Interpretation The consensus amongst the participants was that the concept of learnerships

was good and, at a conceptual level, participants expressed the opinion that

learnerships were better than apprenticeships. While many participants were not

necessarily aware of what a ‘critical skill’ was, they all articulated that learnerships

would work and would provide better employment opportunities for their learners

if implemented correctly.

Participants raised a variety of introspective concerns which ranged from

technical capacity amongst some members of staff in relation to the environment

they were in, to concerns about funding for learnerships which was not directly

accessible to colleges, to low service culture, poor staff utilization and

demotivation, and poor staff morale and work ethic. Participants also highlighted

some areas which, in their opinion, were being neglected by the various decision-

making structures of the college. These included areas, which related to the

college’s general relationship with its industry partners and the respective Seta’s.

They also expressed concerns about industry and business’s low level of

commitment to investment in the college which, in their opinion, was a significant

challenge. Participants did however recognise that staff at the college had a long

way to go to reach a level of maturity in the concept of learnership

implementation, particularly as far as participation at all levels of the process was

concerned.

An interesting phenomenon emerged during the interviews in that the participants

consistently compared the learnership and apprenticeship system and seemed to

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evaluate which of the two was the better system. This comparative perspective

from participants of how they saw the requirements of learnership

implementation at present in relation to when learnerships were not a

requirement, and how learnerships compared with the apprenticeship system

emerged throughout the data collection process. This appeared to have a

significant impact on the way in which staff evaluated the effectiveness of each

system.

Another interesting phenomenon, which appeared throughout the data collection,

was the consistency with which each participant seemed to indicate the various

challenges as he/she experienced them. It appeared as though each participant

had a predetermined view of the order of importance of each of the challenges

they mentioned. This I found particularly interesting because, depending on

whom I was speaking to and what their hierarchical position was within the

college, they made reference to either “us” or “them”, but in spite of this the same

challenges were expressed consistently.

The consensus amongst the participants was that the concept of learnerships

was good and with some work, they would alleviate at least some of the critical

skills shortages that have been identified. In spite of this, I got the impression that

the staff felt that there had to be more to learnership implementation than they

had been told. This was said with an almost suspicious undertone as though

there was an expectation that they were being set up to fail. It was said that a few

of the staff were sent on a training programme with an external facilitator who

presented the unit standard “Manage a learnership”. The participants were all

found competent in terms of the outcomes of the unit standard. However, one

respondent disbelievingly stated, “I’ve got to be honest, not one of us can

manage a learnership” (Interviewee T).

The participants seem to have a rudimentary understanding of what a learnership

is and how it should be run. Only one of the participants seemed to have a

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general understanding of learnerships; however, there were gaps in his/her

knowledge regarding the legislative requirements. This has an impact on his/her

ability to disseminate his/her capacity about the necessity and importance of

doing a single learnership at a time and building staff capacity along the way to

other members of staff.

Participants consistently indicated a lack of technical capacity amongst the junior

members of staff. Participants experienced this as a cause for concern in the light

of the fact that these staff members did not have the requisite technical

competences required in their environment. Similarly, the participants indicated

that staff members who had been at the college for longer than ten years were

equally inadequately equipped to provide for the diverse needs of the college’s

new clientele. As far as the participants were concerned, staff-development was

not high on the priority list and did not form part of the work environment of the

college. They indicated that, while staff may be qualified for the required skills

levels, staff development initiatives were limited. In the participants’ opinion, this

has resulted in a low service culture, poor staff utilization and demotivation, poor

morale and a poor work ethic, which perpetuate the patriarchal traditions of the

former technical college system.

This institution, which is not unlike other public FETIs in the FET band, has a

legacy of historic imposition of top down relationships and practices (Sooklal,

2004). I would argue that this has resulted in a lack of trust and protectionism

among staff. This has been endorsed by research conducted by the Department

of Education (1997) which revealed that the “imposition of top down relationships

and practices result in the disregard for participatory governance and

management, team work, equity and quality promotion” (Department of

Education, 1997:142). This situation leaves the colleges in a precarious position

in terms of meeting their mandate of providing intermediate to high-level skills for

the youth, the unemployed and the pre-employed.

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This FETI is not unlike many other education institutions for which funding is an

ongoing challenge. All funding for FETIs is still centrally determined as it was for

the former technical colleges and is based on full time equivalents (FTEs) which

is one fulltime student for one year (Sooklal, 2004:47). A significantly inhibiting

factor for FETIs is that funding is provided solely for programmes registered with

the Department of Education on the NATED register. Funding for learnerships

from a public provider’s position is notably problematic, as some of the

participants indicated.

The Skills Development Levies Act (Act no 98 of 1998)(SDLA) “exempts public

service providers from paying a training levy” to the South African Revenue

Service (SARS) and hence they are unable to claim any grants from the Setas,

as companies do in respect of any training they provide (Department of

Labour,1998:2). However, I would argue that accessing funding is not impossible

but does require some innovative approaches for colleges. Furthermore, if

decision makers at the college understood the legislative requirements they

would, in my opinion, be in a better position to access funds for learnerships

through partnership arrangements with companies, who make use of the college

facilities, for the theoretical components of the learnership programme.

Participants appeared to be unaware that government has taken “a steering role”

in respect of learnership implementation at public FETIs (Department of Labour,

2003:17). Investment in the FET sector is “not the sole responsibility of the

government. Investment from industry, business and other sources is required”

(Department of Education, 2001:21). “Public and private sectors” need to fund

the FET sector (Department of Education, 2001:21). Due to this college not

having sustainable partnerships with the industry they service, as some

participants indicated, funding for learnerships at this institution will continue to

be a dilemma. Research has further revealed that colleges have not marketed

themselves sufficiently in an attempt to remedy this situation (Fisher & Jaff,

2003).

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There is a perception from staff that the management structures are ineffective,

inefficient and lack transparency. On the one hand, one could argue that the staff

who participated had not been privy to extended management discussions and

therefore what they saw may only be part of the picture. Similarly, one could

argue that what they were witnessing was a manifestation of poor management

capacity. Sooklal (2005) and Fisher and Jaff (2003) argue that there is a lack of

the managerial capacity and skills needed at FETIs to address the challenges

facing the sector.

4.7 Trustworthiness The credibility of a study is enhanced through describing the setting of the

participants and the themes of the study to the extent that the readers would feel

that they have experienced or could have experienced the events being

described (Goetz, 1975). The objective of this study was to provide as much

detail as necessary in order to present the reader with a concise narrative

account of the study. This will enable the reader to visualize and understand the

account as credible. Readers are also at liberty to choose the degree of distance

between the contexts described in this study and their own contexts.

In checking the accuracy of the participants’ responses I made use of member

checking, which is described as “the most crucial technique for establishing

credibility” (Creswell, 2000:27). By using member checking, I took the data

interpretations back to the participants in order to confirm the credibility of the

information and the narrative account. When doing this, I requested individual

participants to review and comment on the accuracy of the raw data in the form of

a word-by-word transcription of the interview. Participants were allowed to give

defining comments on the narratives and, where errors were found, these were

corrected. The working drafts were then reviewed. This contributed to the

credibility of the empirical analysis.

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4.8 Synthesis In this chapter, I have explicated the research approach followed in this study as

well as the research design used for this study. Furthermore, I have outlined the

permission gained and access to the research sites. I gave a detailed description

of the data collection method used, namely semi-structured interviews. I then go

on to discuss qualitative interviewing techniques and the data collection method

used in this study. I conclude this chapter with a brief outline of the

trustworthiness aspects of qualitative research. In the following chapter I will

collate my conclusions and put forward my recommendations based on the data I

collected and the literature I reviewed for this study.

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CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Introduction As was described in chapter 4 I interviewed ten participants on their perceptions

of learnerships and their perceived challenges regarding learnership programme

delivery. I transcribed, studied and analyzed the interviews as documented in the

previous chapter. In this chapter, I extrapolate the analysis of the data collected

and draw conclusions from the analyses. I conclude this chapter with some

recommendations based on the collated data and the literature I reviewed.

One of the attributes of the FET landscape is that of greater authority in relation to

what existed in the technical college scenario. This implies that as a multi-site

institution this FETI would be in a better position to take responsibility for its

progress towards becoming a niche-market service provider, with the concomitant

authority delegated by the provincial and national departments of education. The

vision for the multi-site FET colleges was that this new legal entity would be more

effective with the concomitant “accountable management across and within each

of the campus sites” (Department of Education, 2001:16).

The major observation of this study deals with what Fullan (2001:77) refers to as

“false clarity”, describing what happens when reforms are more complicated than

people realize. Several change theorists (Fullan, 1991; 1993; 1999; 2000;

Hargreaves, 1995a; Elmore, 1995; Stoll & Fink, 1996; McLaughlin, 1987; 1990;

1998) have investigated change initiatives implemented in developed countries,

but few have concentrated on developing countries. The models they presented

were based on findings in schools in developed countries, and seldom recognised

the contextual factors prevalent in less mature environments. Research on FETIs

was mostly restricted to funding or financing, resourcing, curriculum development,

and managerial skills and capacity. Through this research, I sought to provide

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deeper insights into the factors that influence and constrain learnership

implementation in a specific FETI where an array of change initiatives is being

implemented in a transcendently complex environment.

Research commissioned by the Department of Education (1997) and the

National Business Initiative (NBI) (2003) conducted by, amongst others, the

Human Science Research Council (HSRC) and the College Collaboration Fund

(CCF) found the management of the former technical colleges to be deficient in

terms of managerial skills and capacities, governance and staffing. Furthermore,

the inherited institutional ethos of conservatism remains a long-standing

challenge for FETIs (Fisher & Jaff, 2003; Gewer, 2003; Kraak, 1999; Powell &

Hall, 2000; Sooklal, 2004). The ‘technical college sector’ has lacked the

understanding of the importance of lifelong learning and critical thinking, and has

persistently neglected the role of education in promoting inclusive citizenship

(Department of Labour, 2001:9; refer to section 4.5.4; 4.5.5). Sooklal (2005)

argues that besides capacity, skills, resources and leadership, it is imperative

that implementers clearly understand what the change initiative means in order to

achieve success.

The implementation of learnerships was based on the assumption by the

Department of Labour that learnerships would lead to changes in the FET sector,

which would address issues relating to unemployment and unemployability of the

youth and the pre-employed. The changes, however, were not likely to expand

the college staffs’ understanding of the change initiatives. I would argue that

change efforts need more depth and breadth if real change is to take place.

Structural changes without tapping into the deeper aspects of change do not

accomplish the kind of changes intended particularly in a complex process such

as learnership implementation in the FET context (Sooklal, 2004).

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5.2. Conclusions

A legacy challenge that this FETI faces is that of a small pool of senior post

holders available to be directed to provide leadership and management in the

new FET (Department of Labour, 2001). One of the findings (refer to section

4.5.5) reveal that varying levels of micro management has left many staff

members feeling incapacitated and disempowered to perform their functions

effectively. This is reflective of the organisational culture and work ethos of the

South African FET sector, which reflects the conservative legacy of the apartheid

era (Sooklal, 2004). These manifestations take a variety of forms, including

“continuing patterns of intolerance, authoritarianism and abuse of power”

(Sooklal, 2004:266).

The larger staff complement and collective infrastructure which characterized the

merged FETI seems to be less manageable, as opposed to the envisaged ability

to be “better positioned to deliver flexible programmes and services to meet a

variety of needs from a diverse group of learners” (Department of Education,

2001:16). The introduction of learnerships as part of the FET landscape seems to

have unleashed in the study participants a sense of disempowerment and an

inability to engage because of the level of uncertainty and the multi-

methodological approach that envelopes this concept. The staff who participated

in this study also recognised that there was no standard approach to learnership

implementation. Participants indicated their awareness that diverse clientele

require diverse approaches but held themselves blameless with regard to

problems associated with the lack of capacity, skills and understanding of

learnership implementation processes. Participants also acknowledged that this

was uncharted territory for them as well as for colleagues at this institution, and it

was understandably, intimidating. There was also the recognition from

participants that staff at this college had a long way to go to reach a level of

maturity in understanding the concept of learnership implementation, particularly

as far as participation in the process was concerned. I would argue that

participation encourages participation, however “participation may be affected by

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feelings of disempowerment” as was reported by Sooklal (2004:148). This is

exacerbated by the lack of direct, active involvement from the Department of

Education, which has created additional anxiety and tension amongst staff. A

culture of dependency, which undermined staff capacity and the historic

imposition of top down relationships and practices seems to have resulted in a

sense lack of trust and protectionism among staff. The culture of technical

colleges seemed to disregard “… participatory governance, management and

team work” (Department of Education, 1997:142). These practices limit

ownership, cooperation, innovation and sustainable commitment and flexibility

(Department of Education, 1997; Senge, 1991; Sooklal, 2004). It seems apparent from this research that learnerships were implemented without

enough attention being paid to the deeper aspects of change. Learnership

activities appeared to disrupt the orderly manner in which the college functioned.

Participant staff members felt they have had to relinquish their teaching or private

time to learnership planning activities. Participant staff has blamed the Gauteng

Department of Education for the lack of support, capacity resource provisioning,

training and leadership. Participant staff members at this FETI seem to see

themselves at the mercy of an unresponsive, incapable bureaucracy with little

support or training from the Provincial Department of Education. Several

participants articulated their sense of betrayal that neither the Department of

Labour nor the Gauteng Department of Education honoured verbal promises

about additional resources. This led to these staff questioning the sincerity of

these two departments in implementing learnerships. Throughout the interviews

the Department of Education, Department of Labour, Seta and SAQA were

blamed for the lack of support, capacity, resources, training and leadership (refer

to section 4.5.8).

Furthermore, participant staff members at this college apparently do not accept

the blame with regard to problems associated with the lack of capacity, skills,

understanding, collaboration and communication (refer to section 4.5.3;4.5.8).

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These staff members acknowledged an awareness of the legislative framework

and a responsibility to acquaint themselves with the legislation framework

governing learnership implementation. However, they were of the opinion that the

onus was on the management team of the FETI to provide the structural aspects

of change in the college. The above perception has resulted in poorly motivated staff, the absence of a

learning culture and a poor work ethic (refer to section 4.5.7). These

organisational styles are inward looking and conservative, and are inimical to “the

development of participatory management styles, teamwork, raising quality and

forging new relationships between provider and clients” (Department of

Education, 1997:38). The shortage of adequately trained staff limits the ability of

this FET to provide essential learner services. Staff development at this FETI is

not high on the priority list and does not form part of the work environment.

Participants repeatedly stated during the interviews that although fellow

colleagues may be qualified for the required skills levels, staff development

initiatives are limited by the work patterns and the institutional culture (refer to

section 4.5.4). This is not unique to this individual FETI but, according to the

Department of Labour (2001), holds true for other FETIs in South Africa.

Research by the Department of Education (1997) and Sooklal, (2005) again

reveal that this is not unique or isolated to particular FETIs. Despite these

challenges, the mandate of the FETIs remains clear: Colleges must address the

skills needs by developing programmes as per the HRDS (Department of Labour,

2001; Fisher, Jaff, Powell & Hall, 2003).

Participants in this research felt that they were thrown into the deep end as they

were not accustomed to initiating change on their own. College staff was

accustomed to following the rules as issued by the authorities above – the

Gauteng Department of Education in this case. There was also an assumption

that detailed plans outlining each step in the learnership implementation process,

along with the requisite resources to implement learnerships would be made

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available. The participants did not see it as their responsibility to engage in the

legislative framework governing learnerships and try to understand what the

legislation meant in practice. Participants believed that this was the responsibility

of the Gauteng Department of Education, and assumed that the Gauteng

Department of Education would provide the capacity and the resources

necessary to implement learnerships. Participants were of the opinion that the

resources needed to implement learnerships should have been provided by either

the Departments of Education or Labour, or Setas or SAQA.

Participants indicated that curriculum and courseware development for

learnerships, are an ongoing challenge for this FETI. Traditionally the technical

colleges operated within a centralized curriculum, which required that colleges

obtain permission from the Department of Education to offer new programmes of

subjects or to change the content of subjects (Sooklal, 2004:47). Colleges were

issued syllabi for the NATED programmes and that is what was followed prior to

the introduction of learnerships. Colleges still offer NATED programmes in this

way (Sooklal, 2004). The challenge around learnerships as it relates to the design

and development of courseware remains unabated (McGrath, 2004). Similarly,

apprentices that enrolled at these colleges were issued with apprenticeship

training schedules when their apprenticeship contracts were signed, and these

were used as curriculum guidelines for staff to follow. The issue of content of

programmes and questions of quality and standards seem to be “someone else’s

problem” in the minds of staff rather than “key responsibilities of managers and

lectures” (Fisher et al., 2003:340).

Participants indicated repeatedly that insufficient time and money created

barriers to learnership implementation. Money was needed to acquire skills,

capacity, support, training, and all the other physical and non-physical resources

required to initiate and sustain learnership implementation (refer to section 4.5.5).

Due to the complexities of the various regulations governing learnership

implementation, the role of public FETIs is misunderstood in terms of learnership

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delivery. For a public FETI to deliver a learnership programme negotiations need

to take place between the provincial Department of Education, the relevant Seta

and Umalusi. This type of adverse working condition coupled with a breakdown

in the culture of teaching and service are reflected in the poor morale, a poor

work ethic and low professional self-esteem amongst many educators

(Department of Education, 1998; Sooklal, 2004). Parallel to this, public providers

cannot access funds directly from the Seta because of the exemption made to

public service entities by the Skills Development Levies Act (SDLA) (Department

of Labour, 1999:5). Colleges also do not receive any funding from the

Department of Education for programmes not registered on the NATED register

(Department of Education, 1998c). Accessing funding from the skills levy has not

been exploited due to the insufficient coordination between the Departments of

Education and Labour as well as the weak linkages colleges have with the Seta’s

(Fisher et al., 2003; McGrath, 2004) (refer to section 4.5.5; 4.5.6; 4.5.9).

Learnership implementation demanded new skills, knowledge and

understanding, yet provision was not made to train staff for their new roles and

responsibilities in this regard. The issue of funding is an unconcluded debate, as

“the Department of Education has not yet developed a coherent and

comprehensive funding regime for colleges” (Fisher et al., 2003:345).

Furthermore, based on what the participants have indicated, there appears to be

a dearth of appropriate policies, procedures and mechanisms to implement

learnerships effectively at this stage in this institution.

5.3. Recommendations South Africa’s economy has experienced a structural transformation away from

the primary sector activities of agriculture and mining into knowledge-based

activities in the secondary and tertiary sectors. This has had far-reaching

implications for the type of skills needed by the labour market (Davies &

Farquharson, 2004). The resultant lack of skills to meet these new challenges led

to the emergence of the National Skills Development Act of 1998 and the National

Skills Levies Act of 1999, which were designed to address this issue.

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Subsequently the South African economy was divided into sectors in an attempt

to manage the implementation of these two Acts. The establishment of Setas to

develop sector skills strategies and manage the disbursement of the levies

collected from employers in the sectors would be measured in terms of the ability

of these structures to transform the skills base in the respective sectors through

the implementation of targeted learnerships (Davies & Farquharson, 2004;

Vorwerk, 2002).

A concerted effort needs to be made to ensure that staff members are exposed to

changing technologies and processes in the workplace. It has been argued that

the current environment inhibits the development of an ethos more appropriate to

a college climate (TVET Sector Review, 1992; Fisher, et al., 2003). Research

conducted by the NBI confirms that, in this respect, little has changed since 1992

and staffing remains an area of vital concern (Fisher, et al., 2003). Staff members

involved in the learnership implementation process needs to have a thorough

understanding of the requirements of the process.

Program innovation and curriculum development at this college are seen as FETI

challenges to be overcome. Currently FETIs are geared towards full time students

with no provision made for working or part-time learners (NBI, 2000; Fisher, et al.,

2003). Professional development, which is emphasised in the FET policy, to

change teaching and learning practices and to bring about the desired changes,

implies the dismantling of deep-seated institutional culture inherent in the FETI

sector (Department of Education, 1998c).

FET institutions have not yet begun to explore the programme possibilities

opened up by the introduction of the Department of Labour’s learnership scheme

seriously (NBI, 1998; Fisher, et al., 2003). Learnership implementation requires

rigorous and robust engagement with all parties concerned. The college

concerned has found it difficult to find meaningful employment opportunities for

students on learnerships because too many employers prefer to poach skilled

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workers rather than train workers and have taken a largely passive attitude

toward skills development (Botshabelo & McGrath, 2004; McGrath, 2004; refer to

section 4.5.9 ).

Another concern, raised in earlier research into the FET sector is that, while the

FET band is restricted to levels 2-4 on the NQF, the reality is that many FETIs

offer programmes, which overlap with higher education, which is at level 5 on the

NQF. This adds to the current funding dilemma (Department of Education, 2001;

Fisher et al., 2003).

In 2001, the Department of Education took a firm position that “mission drift into

higher education must be avoided”. The Education White Paper 4 (2001)

indicated that there should be a “soft boundary” between further and higher

education (Department of Education, 2001:11). Then, in 2003, the Department of

Education adopted a more flexible position regarding “academic shift” in

recognition of the “contribution the colleges make to provision at higher education

level” (Department of Education, 2003:13). Like other FETIs many of the

programmes, which this institution still offers, fall into the higher education-band.

This debate is currently unresolved. Despite the awareness of the lucrative nature

of these programmes, there is also the awareness that, in terms of the NQF,

these programmes are out of the colleges’ regulated band. Research has

revealed that this increased levels of uncertainty around programme demarcation

between the two bands (Department of Education, 2001; Fisher et al., 2003).

A compelling case will need to be made outlining the kind of knowledge; skills and

competencies the colleges will contribute to the HRDS. There is a clear need for

further investment in the FETIs, not only to meet the current provision

requirements but also to support the expansion and diversification of the sector.

The development of a new funding regime is critical for the effective

transformation of the FET sector if the provinces, treasury, private sector and

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international donors are to be persuaded to contribute to the funding of the sector

(Fisher, et al., 2003).

Learnership implementation in the South African context is complicated by the

fact that it is an emerging field. Despite the legislative context, there is a lack of

understanding and consensus about the areas of implementation (Vorwerk,

2002). In addition, learnership implementation requires multi-stakeholder

involvement. These combined factors present significant challenges for ensuring

effective learnership delivery. A learnership programme needs to adhere to three

core criteria as outlined in the National Standards Body (NSB) Regulations of

March 1998 namely:

• Applied competence: the ability to put into practice in the relevant context

the learning outcomes acquired in obtaining a qualification.

• Integrated assessment: Assessment that permits the learner to

demonstrate applied competence, and which uses a range of formative

and summative methods.

• A qualification: A planned combination of learning outcomes, which is

intended to provide qualifying learners with applied competence and a

basis for further learning (Vorwerk, 2002a).

The practical implication of these criteria shifts the focus of the learning

intervention from the classroom per se to the point of application, which is the

‘real-world environment’. This is congruent with Billett’s (1994) view that high-

quality learning programmes should provide ‘authentic’ learning experiences, with

opportunities to learn in real workplace settings where the outcomes ‘matter’.

Careful design of the learning programmes based on a needs analysis of the

target market is needed (Vorwerk, 2002a). One could also describe learnerships

as a set of tools aimed at achieving a set of transformations, which include

addressing problematic features of the South African labour market, by aligning

education and training initiatives more closely to the needs of the labour market.

They build a relationship between structured learning and structured work

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experience which is required by the labour market and to allow for life-long

learning (Davies & Farquharson, 2004).

5.4 Limitations of the study One of the limitations of this study was that because this was a mini dissertation

the focus of this study was directed at the perceptions of learnership programme

delivery only. This limited scope resulted in participation being restricted to a

small number of information rich participants.

5.5 Recommendations for further study In this study I have opened up several questions that could serve as

opportunities for further research, namely, the need for

• Institutional surveys on the perceptions of learnership implementation

• Institutional capacity building for learnership delivery

• Impacts of mergers on learnership implementation and delivery.

5.6 Synthesis Initiating and driving change is a complex task. In this minor dissertation I have

identified some of the perceived challenges some of the academic staff have

expressed regarding learnership implementation in one FETI in the Gauteng

region. I have reconfirmed existing theory and have provided insight into some of

the factors influencing the implementation of change initiatives. The research

shows some of the consequences of implementing learnerships as a change

initiative without a common understanding and a shared vision of the

implementers. Much about the implementation of learnerships at this FETI was

assumed, rather than spoken about and debated. Staff were expected to change

career long practices, despite diverse and divergent philosophies and beliefs

about change. Staff needs to articulate their own beliefs about teaching practices

before being expected to change, especially when change is complex and multi-

faceted. They need to be able to question their own beliefs and challenge their

core values about education, teaching and learning. The research has shown

89

that leadership was absent at both the provincial and institutional level.

Management structures did not provide direction nor encourage dialogue among

staff. Similarly, dialogue between themselves and provincial officials to reach

consensus around the change initiative was absent. Dissenting views and

participant staffs understanding of learnerships was varied.

This research has shown that sustainable change initiatives require the

embracing and developing of the human dimensions of change. For change

initiatives to be successful it is important that the change is well thought out with

active change agents to drive the process. This needs to be coupled with

sufficient resources, and time to support the reform. Organisational and structural

changes need to be coupled with capable leadership. This research shows that

change initiatives also need to be supported by enabling structures, processes

and mechanisms. Enabling structures provide a framework within which rules,

roles, responsibilities and relationships are built and maintained while the change

initiative is being driven.

90

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