Transform the TVET Sector to be First Choice Institutions

Introduction

Our education system still suffers from some of the apartheid patterns which entrenched ideas of our colonisers and continue to endorse a banking concept methodology. The triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality faced by young people, in particular, extend the systematic exclusion of children of the working class and the poor. Our right to education has seriously undermined and education is now a commodity where institutions are profit-driven. The privatisation of education then delivers luxury and well-resourced education to the wealthy but excludes working-class youth from quality education. This extends to the deliberate weakening of public education to promote the need for private commodified education.

Some of these challenges persist because of the structure of our economy which remains largely in private hands. Furthermore, the financial sector equally traps the poor and working-class through educational loans they cannot sustain thus making it difficult for the private sector and the financial sector to invest in development of our education system. Instead, the current model feeds these sectors, meaning that those who pursue education private education due to capacity constraints in public sector institutions are therefore indebted to the private sector due to loans that require years to service.

This neo-liberal approach to education teaches our youth in particular students that the market is the panacea to the problems facing human society. On the contrary, it is because of this market that society is vulnerable and faced with the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Since the transition to vocational education through the introduction of the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) curriculum in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, we noticed some policy challenges. NCV is the equivalent of a high school curriculum and has the same evaluation system (with the exclusion of practical training), and persisting challenges such as the high school model of evaluation amongst others. This has made this sector a glorified high-school. Despite our democratic government investing a lot of resources in the sector, there are still serious challenges that need a collective effort to confront and challenge the nature of our education system.

The TVET [formerly Technical Colleges then FET] sector has for years been focused on in relation to the transformation of the sector, the low pass and throughput rates; the limited range of programmes offered; and the restrictive nature of centrally administered curricula.

The transition to vocational education, from the FET to TVET college subsystem and its new location in the post-school education and training system, poises the sector to be a significant locus of delivery of vocational and continuing education and training in order to meet the critical skills shortage required by the economy and necessary for industrial development.

While we acknowledge the mobilisation around TVET colleges and the TVET system, manifested in the “TVET must Rise” slogan, the programme of action around TVET transformation must be based on the concrete challenges faced by the sector. This is because the challenges faced by the TVET sector are unique to the nature of the sector- ranging from the operations of TVET colleges, the curriculum and the centralized marking system on examinations.

There has been uncertainty in terms of the curricula especially when much focus was on the NCV rather than the previously trusted Report 191 (Nated). We witnessed labour instability and students’ mass action as the transition from the formerly FET system to the current TVET system, mainly due to the difficulty that the transition posed on Nated students.

Education is a site of struggle thus meaning it will be contested by contending classes in the society. Education is part of coercive elements of the superstructure which is used to entrench ideas of the ruling class. The sudden focus on NCV is not unique, is partly fuelled by inconsistencies regarding the imbalance of trades between TVETs students and university students, a challenge which poses a danger of sustaining trades in university studies due to industries requirement of TVET skills as compared to universities.

Challenges with the TVET Sector and its Curriculum

Our TVET colleges are already starved of academic staff. This is an important centre of a contest in the battle of ideas, and the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) should take a lead in a co-ordinated campaign for young professionals to volunteer services as lecturers in TVET colleges – meaning that there will have to be a programme to up-skill the colleges with pedagogy and methodology rather than to only rely on immediate graduates from same TVET colleges.

Learning from Paulo Frèire, only a liberatory education system will assist the country to move forward in its quest to be a developmental state. The transformation must include the articulation of our economic sectors within the education system in creating a people’s economy and advancing the struggle for social and economic justice.

“Why not discuss with the students the concrete reality of their lives and that aggressive reality in which violence is permanent and where people are much more familiar with death than with life? Why not establish an “intimate” connection between knowledge considered basic to any school curriculum and knowledge that is the fruit of the lived experience of these students as individuals?

Why not discuss the implications, political and ideological, of the neglect of the poor areas of the city by the constituted authorities? Are there class-related ethical questions that need to be looked at here? A pragmatic reactionary educator would probably say that there is no connection between one thing and the other. That the school is not the Party. That the function of the school is to teach and transfer contents-packages-to the students, which, once learned, will operate automatically”. Paulo Freire – Pedagogy of Freedom, Ethics and Democracy.

Numerous debates have emerged about the purpose of the NCV and the extent to which it responds to the markets or corporates. In particular, there appears to be uncertainty about whether the NCV is preparing learners to enter particular occupations and if so, which ones, or whether the NCV is primarily a foundational programme that prepares learners to access an occupational learning programme. NCV should serve as a tool for preparing young people to be active participants in the economy of our country.

This uncertainty has then raised the question pertaining to the intended target in terms of who is actually required to study the NCV programme and the extent to which curricula is appropriate for its intended purpose and the cost-effectiveness of the programmes.

Further, there is a concern about the level of throughput and the high numbers that appear to be exiting the qualification prior to completion as well as the large numbers that are repeating subjects. Simply put, students who passed grade 12 studying an NCV programme in engineering, for example, will repeat the mathematics that they study and passed in grade 10, 11 and 12, over the same period of three years, which is unnecessary.

There is also a related concern about the fundamentals within the NCV curriculum. This relates to both the question of whether certain students should be exempt from fundamentals if they have already achieved their grade 12 and on the other end of the spectrum whether certain programmes should have less stringent requirements for the fundamentals.

Although the NCV qualification was phased-in as the N1-N3 Ministerial- approved programmes were phased out, these qualifications differed materially in terms of purpose, design and structure. The NCV, therefore, does not have a precedent qualification to which it may be benchmarked, and in the absence of such a benchmark has often been compared against Report 191/ Nated programmes, the National Curriculum Statements (NCS) of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Learnerships.

Amongst the challenges within the sector, these are common across the country:

TVET system poses a confusing mix of overlapping and competing programmes, mostly in regard to the NCV curriculum, e.g. same programme enrols both students with matric and those who are supposed to go for Grade 10. Lack of proper administration of bursaries {NSFAS} in colleges because results are never released on time and pending results can take weeks or more than a month before they are released Lack of strong institutional and governance of the TVET system. Lack of transformation of the management teams, labour stability, staff commitment and productivity. Lack of student accommodation which affects the academic performance of our students. Not sufficient campuses to respond to the amount of labour required by the labour market Inadequate skills and qualifications of lecturers.
Umalusi as a quality assurer while at the same time it deals with basic education, which often results in not releasing results on time, pending results, leaking exam papers which affects the students across the country. Lack of articulation of the TVET, HEI, SETAs and other institutions. No recognition of TVET programmes by the HEI despite TVET Colleges seeded to Higher Education since April 01, 2014.

What possible solutions can make the TVET sector more attractive?

It is urgent for the department to consider a curriculum review in the TVET Sector and to invest in a massive infrastructural upgrade. Implementation of a monitoring, evaluation and research system for TVET, community colleges, universities and training institutions. There is also a need to consider t the indicators for monitoring and evaluating NCV going forward should be considered. This should include the development of key indicators for determining the success of the programme as well as indicators pertaining to the inputs of the programme.

The review of the NCV curriculum should consider whether the current assessment policies and practices are optimal and what changes may be required. The current assessment policy disadvantages students and policy changes should be effected which will internalize assessment in TVET colleges the same way it is done in universities and private colleges. In particular, there is a need to consider the requirements of the external assessments of written and practical assessment components that are externally set and marked by the Department of Higher Education, and externally moderated by an appropriate ETQA instead of Umalusi”. This is to deal away with pending results and the pressure on Umalusi to assess both grade 12 and TVET colleges. The Nated courses are administered, assessed and their certificates released by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) which can be given the same mandate when it comes to the NVC programmes.

The introduction of a policy to map the relationship between SETAs and HEIs and TVET colleges will have a dual mission meaning that they should provide large numbers of school leavers and out of school youth with access to occupational programmes that can enhance employability or lead to job creation.

The ministry through its TVET sector unit should convene a TVET Summit which will bring together Labour, Students’ Structures, College Principals and Councils under one roof to confront all these challenges.

Lessons for TVET colleges from the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of institutions at both Basic Education level and Higher Education Institution levels as a result of the lockdown announced by National Government has lessons for the higher education sector, especially TVET colleges.

Firstly, those who were supposed to write their Nated trimester exams were not or will not be able to do so. These are mostly engineering related courses. The reality is that if the lockdown, even in a phased manner, was to be extended for more than four months, these students would have missed two trimesters. These courses do not have any module to assist with computer literacy; not even basic computing skills. Therefore, there is no way that students were going to be able to partake in any online classes or even online examinations.

Secondly, many TVET colleges do not have an online student portal. This means that for online education to take place during the lockdown, massive training for student portal would have to take place. This would have to create a programme for the entire TVET system due to inequalities that we have both in the TVET system and in society generally, such as travelling costs, network coverage and some students not having any computer literacy skills.

Thirdly, the majority of TVET campuses are in rural and remote areas and students suffer from network coverage, find it difficult to access internet cafés and high data costs impede their access e to technology. If the option of e-learning is to be considered, it is likely to exclude the majority of TVET students and even lecturers.

Lastly, students in the TVET sector do not get the same allowances from the National Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) as university students. However, it is TVET students, especially those who are studying Nated trimester courses who are on the receiving end on the lockdown. They cannot afford residences that offer free Wi-Fi, neither do they have sufficient resources such as university students.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this discussion is to spark a debate around the possible review of the NCV curriculum because of the challenges that were encountered and to redesign the sector. The argument for the review of the NCV curriculum is based on the premise that many college lecturing staff were not thoroughly trained towards its delivery as an occupational learning programme and lacked the necessary skills to teach it. This is because NCV is regarded as equivalent to grade 10, 11 and 12 in high schools and therefore, ordinary high school teachers can also be in this space. In some colleges, they normally take students who have just graduated from the programme to be lectured. Its basic education style requires high school teachers which degenerates the programme and the purpose. Dealing with the methodology and registering them with the South African Council for Educators (SACE) will enable lectures to properly deliver this programme.

The struggle to make the TVET sector institution of the first choice is an important one and one that the young people whose talent lies outside of the academic arena are entitled to. It cannot be business as usual when 50 Colleges with more than 256 campuses will fail to enrol more students than the number of students that the 26 universities accommodate. This is mainly because these colleges offer only 10 qualifications compared to universities that offer more than 3000 qualifications.

Cde Tinyiko Ntini is the National Secretary for the YCLSA. He writes in his personal capacity