We read much of the skills revolution that has been initiated by the democratic government in South Africa since 1994. After 12 years it is important to revisit the notion and to see where and whether the revolution has indeed taken place and to investigate what must still be done and how that can achieved.
PROF. MERLYN MEHL
Triple L Academy

The Present Revolutionary Elements

A careful analysis of our Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS) crafted since 1994 , reveals that in many respects, it is one of the most ambitious and one of the best of any country in the world. In fact it has been compared in its international stature to the South African Constitution. There are a number of elements of our HRDS that are pathbreaking. The establishment of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) under the aegis of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) was a revolution in educational thinking in South Africa in 1995. The promulgation of the Skills Development Act and the Employment Equity Act around 1998- 2000 was also pioneering in its conceptualization. The policy framework that we have in place in these and other related Acts, is in fact revolutionary. In essence it attempts to create a single framework, the NQF that puts the potential to create a learning pathway for every individual in the country regardless of the historical situation in which he/she may be as far as education is concerned (from Miner to Magnate to give it some colloquial flavour).

But while the policy framework is revolutionary, in many respects it was years before its time in its intent to create an integrated Qualification system. It is only now, after 10 years of effort that we are beginning to put in place the full structure that is required to give it substance.

A Central Issue

There is no doubt that is has proved to be extrremely difficult to implement the laws that are on the statute books. While there are many reasons for this – not least of all the complexity of what is being attempted - there is one very powerful contributing mindset that we carry:

as a nation we have never accepted nor understood the intellectual parity between academic knowledge and learning and workplace knowledge and learning.

The head of SAQA, Mr. Sam Isaacs talks of the Parity of Esteem that should exist between various Qualification Frameworks, notably between academic qualifications and occupationally-directed qualifications. While this is something that we might reach in time, the fact of the matter is that in the minds of most people, a university degree, regardless of its content has far more value than any experiential learning or workplace-based learning that people might have accumulated over years in the workplace. In fact it is reported that companies far more readily recognise a qualification from school, for example matric or from higher education, a B.A say, than any learnership qualification that has been developed through the SETA’s.

On What Is the Policy Framework Based?

To really understand the reasons behind the Policy Framework that has been put in place, we need to realize that knowledge is produced in many different environments in the world today. This is vastly different to the times when education systems and university structures as we have today were established. The ubiquity of ICT means that knowledge production is no longer limited to the higher academic echelons of research in universities. Bill Gates gives an interesting definition of Knowledge:

“Knowledge is information combined with experience, context, interpretation and reflection.”

Notice from this the knowledge is not a matter of accumulating facts. If you cannot apply that information then it remains just that. You need experience, you need context, you need interpretation and reflection.

Coupled with this is the idea of how and where knowledge is produced in society. The then Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in a White Paper in 1996, said the following:

“Traditional ways of producing knowledge within single disciplines and institutions are being supplemented by knowledge generated within various applied contexts. This is knowledge that is collaboratively created…. Directed to problems in social and economic systems”

What this means is the following, knowledge production is now pervasive in economic and social environments. This knowledge needs to be properly codified, that is put in a shape, form and structure which allows it to be readily learnt by people entering the particular field. The way in which this can be achieved has been extremely well defined by SAQA via outcomes based learning with unit standards as the entity that captures this knowledge.

Completing the Skills Revolution

The imminent establishment of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations is recognition by government of the present shortcomings in our human resource development architecture. The QCTO as it is called, challenges the intellectual control of institutionalized education by being able to develop qualifications from NQF level 1 right up to NQF level 10 in a structure other than within the Department of Education. So now it will be possible to create qualifications that link to occupations very directly. The QCTO will report into the Department of Labour. The implications of this is the following: it will now be possible to establish the intellectual equivalence between occupationally-directed qualifications and learning and those in formal institutions of education.

This doesn’t mean to say that it will happen overnight. It obviously will not. But it is worth remembering that the value of qualifications and the importance of them are not established by the institution giving them but by how useful those qualifications are in society. Over time it is almost self-evident that workplace based learning and the value of qualifications that are aligned to occupations will in fact be readily embraced by society, if the opportunity is provided for these to be developed. Put another way, imagine that you are going through a learning programme leading to a nationally acknowledged qualification that will almost certainly ensure that you have work. Additionally once you have achieved that qualification there are further qualifications snugly linked to a number of career paths also linked to real work opportunities and advancement. And finally you will via this learning path be able to achieve a doctorate that places you at the very pinnacle of achievement in your chosen career. Certainly over time such qualifications are going to be competitive with academic qualifications regardless of the status of the institution from which you get it, but that still leaves you possibly unemployed and perhaps unemployable.

Scarce and critical skills are very much the buzzwords in South Africa today. It is safe to say that these will only be addressed in environments where those skills can be codified, defined and placed in qualifications that lead to their amelioration. At the same time it is also a fact that Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) which has struggled to gain a foothold in South African educational thinking, is far more readily addressed within an occupationally-directed qualifications framework. It is in this environment of actually doing the job that people have learnt and developed the kinds of skills that make them employable.

One Immediate Implication of All the Above

There is a robust debate on the go in the country around the future of the SETA’s, the Sector Education & Training Authorities. One hears of their reduction in number, their viability and in the words of some commentators their irrelevance. The fact of the matter is that the Seta’s are responsible for the codification of the knowledge base within their sector. The QCTO is the vehicle that they have lacked to appropriately define and codify knowledge production in their sectors. One should expect that now the SETA’s would get an intellectual impetus and recognition of the work that they are doing. This is not to minimize some of the administrative and other financial problems that have bedeviled them. But their role within South African society should be entrenched by better understanding of what we are trying to achieve with our human resource strategies.

It is now up to the Seta’s to establish their real Authority as the intellectual power houses of workplace-based or occupationally-directed qualifications frameworks. That implies immediately that their boards need to be properly prepared, inducted and audited and their CEO’S need to have the intellectual status afforded by qualifications in the arenas in which they preside and that all staff should be placed on suitably designed qualifications and learnerships. In other words it is up to them to establish a dynamic learning system for their sectors.

If that is done, efficiently, effectively and rapidly, we can begin to realize the wonderful potential wrapped up too long in this vibrant society that is South Africa.