The recently introduced Skills Development Strategy in South Africa seeks to cater for the training needs of both the formal and informal sectors. However, basic disagreements between employers and the government has meant that the government has had to move forward with its own proposals which draw heavily on active labour market policies adopted in Australia, Sweden and other developed industrial countries. Once again, this highlights the intensely political nature of any major reform of VET provision. Concerns have also been expressed about such heavy reliance on training policies that have been developed in very different economic and social contexts (see Bennell, 1993).
The main features of the strategy include:
Organisational arrangements: Rather than creating new institutions to develop and implement the reform process, preference has been given to using existing institutions. The creation of a unified training system is a key objective. In order to establish ownership of the reform process considerable efforts have been made to consult all the main stakeholders. Significantly, however, this did not specifically include the poor.
National Skills Authority: The NSA is a new advisory body under the Ministry of Labour. However, representation continues to be dominated by government, employers, and trade unions.
A National Qualifications Framework: The NQF is intended to be a comprehensive mechanism for awarding qualifications based on credits received for achieved learning outcomes. Attainment of credits goes towards the achievement of eight levels of nationally recognised qualifications. The system seeks to ensure the 'portability of learning outcomes' and cut across the traditional education-training divide. Critics of the NQF point out that it is likely to be very costly and will discourage employers from providing general skills training.
Learnerships: A new learnership scheme is intended to broaden the present apprenticeship system beyond traditional blue collar trades to include white collar occupations in the service sector as well as the informal sector and special target groups including unemployed youth. Through learnerships, structured learning and work experience can be accredited within the NQF.
Public funding: The state is to continue to fund training for the poor and other disadvantaged groups. A new system of competitive tendering for long-term training contracts is to be introduced.
National Levy-Grant Scheme: Eighty per cent of training levies collected will be distributed to employers through new Sector Education and Training Organisations (SETOs). The remaining 20 per cent will be allocated to a National Skills Fund which can be used to target training in 'priority sectors'
Sources: A. Ziderman and A. Van Adams. 1997. 'Reforming the Training System in South Africa' in I. Gill and F. Fluitman, 1998; Bennell, 1993.
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