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An examination of factors in adapting atechnical and vocational education andtraining programme within South AfricaJonathan David Stuart aa Customized Training Faculty, Hennepin Technical College ,Brooklyn Park , MN , USAPublished online: 22 Feb 2012.

To cite this article: Jonathan David Stuart (2012) An examination of factors in adapting atechnical and vocational education and training programme within South Africa, Human ResourceDevelopment International, 15:2, 249-257, DOI: 10.1080/13678868.2011.650978

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2011.650978

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PERSPECTIVES

An examination of factors in adapting a technical and vocational

education and training programme within South Africa

Jonathan David Stuart*

Customized Training Faculty, Hennepin Technical College, Brooklyn Park, MN, USA

(Received 31 October 2011; final version received 22 November 2011)

Countries look to borrow those educational systems that have been successful atmeeting particular needs in other parts of the world. However, whether looking toEurope, Asia or the United States, technical and vocational education and training(TVET) programmes are not easily replicated in a new context. Even with well-intentioned government policy and support, they become more or less successfulwhen aligned with the needs of industry, how TVET is viewed and utilized, andcultural and societal impacts of how youth transition to work and career. Thispaper presents an aspect that is often missing from the literature on this subject:an examination of the factors influencing how the TVET implementation playsout within a particular industry and country. This paper considers a case involvingthe process of borrowing a manufacturing skill development programme fromthe United States for implementation in South Africa.

Keywords: educational system borrowing; South Africa; TVET; vocationaleducation and training

Introduction

It has been underscored that borrowing of educational programmes from onecountry to another is a complex issue (McGrath 2002; Turbin 2001). The diverseconditions in both the country (context) of origination and the context ofimplementation make it difficult to transpose a system from one setting to the other(Phillips and Ochs 2003). A collaborative partnership in South Africa is currently inthe second year of applying a technical and vocational education and training(TVET) programme that was adapted from the United States. This paper willexamine the unique conditions present in South Africa related to borrowing thismanufacturing skill development programme. It will describe how this unique TVETprogramme was borrowed and the specific conditions that impact the process ofadapting it to a different country’s context. An overarching research question of thispaper is thus: what factors contributed to the specific experience in borrowing thismanufacturing skill programme within South Africa?

In what follows, this question will be explored through a three-part review. Firstwill be an examination of the current conditions impacting career, technical andvocational education in the South African context with a focus on the manufacturing

*Email: jstuart@hennepintech.edu

Human Resource Development International

Vol. 15, No. 2, April 2012, 249–257

ISSN 1367-8868 print/ISSN 1469-8374 online

� 2012 Taylor & Francis

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sector. Following this, will be a discussion of the M-Powered Program, amanufacturing skill development partnership developed in the Minnesota Collegesand Universities System (MnSCU), and how it was imported by the NationalTooling Initiative of South Africa and became the Tool Die and Mould Making(TDM)-Powered Program. Finally, some themes will be drawn concerning therelationship of factors between these conditions in South Africa and the ways inwhich one particular TVET framework was adopted to both meet those needs and asa reaction to the specific conditions.

Examination of the South African context

South Africa offers a highly distinctive context for thinking about borrowing TVETsystems and the factors influencing career and vocational education or training. Itdefies classification into either the ‘developed country’ or ‘developing country’categories, the ‘first world’ or ‘third world’ descriptors. Among other factors, itsunique political history, the geographic differences between urban and rural areas,vast socio-economic spectrum and esteemed status within the continent of Africa allcontribute to requiring care, ‘when applying concepts derived from outside the SouthAfrican experience’ (Ashton 2005, 19).

Viewpoints on TVET systems and borrowing

Any given country has unique perspectives which cause TVET systems to be seen asmore or less viable education options. There are four specific viewpoints operating inSouth Africa which contribute to negative stereotypes of Further Education andTraining (FET) colleges where the majority of career and vocational education takesplace. First, the 4 year university paradigm is often more strongly supported inprimary and secondary education systems through an emphasis on general education(Akoojee 2005; Oketch 2007). This may be attributed to a second influence: theculturally held desire for a white collar or knowledge career as the nature ofemployment or work continues to evolve (Young 2006). Thirdly, certain technical orcareer related forms of education have historically been seen simply in economicterms or used as a means for employers to exploit the skills of workers (Lewis 2009).Related to this, there is a fourth negative connotation that TVET remains connectedback to colonial times and educational systems (Oketch 2007). Any of these fourchallenges can only be overcome by changing the framework of how TVET systemsare thought of. To change this paradigm, Lewis (2009) advocates emphasizing suchthings as the societal dimension, practicality and democratic nature of ‘vocation-alism’, particularly in less developed countries.

Writing primarily on the African experience, McGrath (2002) notes thathistorically, TVET systems have been directly applied, often by external entitieswho do not consider the societal structure or economic environment of the‘borrowing’ country. In other words, either formal colonial power or groups such asthe World Bank are responsible for setting up TVET systems based on thoseestablished in a developed country (different context) and primarily understoodfrom an economic standpoint. Discussion of considerations is related to whom thedonors or funding agencies of these projects are and what their goals are tied to runthrough the work of both McGrath (2002) and Lewis (2009). Regardless of whichstakeholders undertake the educational borrowing process, their understanding of

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the unique contextual factors influencing the ‘borrowing country’ is of greatimportance when thinking about issues of compatibility (Phillips and Ochs 2003;Turbin 2001). Thus, an examination of the environment particular to South Africawill be reviewed next.

Influences and initiatives in South African TVET

Although it can be seen as an ‘emerging economy’ sharing similar features withcountries such as Brazil and Russia, South Africa has several distinct challenges toboth the development of its human capital writ large and the personal developmentof all its individual citizens. Due to the legacy of apartheid there remains a lack ofequality in educational systems and opportunities (Soudien 2007; Tikly 2011). Inaddition, South Africa shares an open border with Zimbabwe, a country with aconsiderably less stable economic and political situation, and receives large numbersof people willing to work at low skill jobs for low wages. Looking systemically, theseare just two examples of the challenges related to human resource development,education reform and skill training. This section will further examine these topicsand then highlight a skill gap in one particular industry, manufacturing.

It is interesting to note that for the first time students now entering secondaryeducation institutions and workplace employment have been schooled in SouthAfrica’s post-apartheid education system. This is not to say that their experienceshave all been equally related to access, instruction, materials and institutions (Tikly2011). The Higher Education Act of 1998 was aimed at greater efficiency for allstudents (Akoojee 2008) and was carried out in part by merging 150 colleges indiverse locations into 50 new public FET college entities. The idea was in part thatalthough fewer in number, the remaining colleges would be able to offer moreuniform subject offerings and learning environments while at the same time beingmore responsive to local conditions. In reality however, an FET college in theWestern Cape remains much different from one in a more rural province such asLimpopo, in terms of resources and connections to industry and thus in overallquality. Though the goal remains a vision to be achieved, the 1998 law wasnevertheless a contributing influence causing black student enrolment to grow bymore than 30% between 1999 and 2003 (Soudien 2007).

Although not always realizing the promise of their initiatives, for more than 14years the African National Congress (ANC) government has sent a consistentmessage about the importance of TVET (Akoojee 2008; McGrath and Akoojee2007). For example, the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills was established as a skilldevelopment policy in 2006. It laid out the role of FET colleges in responding tospecific skill development needs (Young 2006) and substantial financial investment inthe FET system was made. Due in part to the fact that the total number of studentfull time equivalents in 4 year universities has been historically much higher than inFET colleges (Akoojee 2005), in 2007 the government stated the goal to enrol morethan one million students in TVET by the year 2015. In order to do so, there remainsa need to improve the reputation of South African FETs while at the same timeoffering alternative TVET pathways, be they private or industry partnerships.

One such enterprise implemented in order that both incumbent workers andunemployed learners attain needed skills in manufacturing and other industrysectors was called ‘learnerships’. The basis of this demand led, self-learningprogramme is that students develop a portfolio of detailed work which can be

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credentialed by external moderators. However, one of the major issues highlightedby Kraak (2008) is that despite the implementation of this model, there remainuneven linkages among it, other FET programmes and actual employment. Anotherissue yet to be addressed is that due to the decentralization of educationalgovernance neither the salary nor qualifications of lecturers are uniform since theyare determined by local bodies (Akoojee 2008). Thus, standards related toinstructors, a key component in any higher education system, are not clearlyestablished. In summary, such indicators as unwieldy programmes like ‘learnerships’,few linkages from education pathways to employment and uneven lecturer standardsexplain why many TVET structures are not highly valued or sought after ascredential granting systems for those looking to acquire industry specific skills.

Manufacturing sector focus

The manufacturing sector is indicative of the difficulty students in South Africa havein following a transitional path from school to work. As a stalwart member of‘middle society’ it has fallen on hard times over the past 20 years as the industry itselfand skills required within it have been devalued (Kraak 2005). It should be notedthat this is not unlike the experience in other countries, although the South Africanexperience is unique in several ways. During the period of apartheid and up until1993, there was a need to be nationally self-sufficient across various industries. SouthAfrica was in some respects disregarded during the early stages of internationalglobalization (Ashton 2005). This meant, for example, developing high levels oftechnical manufacturing production of things such as cars to airplanes, utilizing therich natural mineral reserves, found in the country. However, due to tariff protectionand trade restrictions imposed by international sanctions, the apartheid-era SouthAfrica was not exporting a large number of manufactured goods.

When South Africa rejoined the international community and there was nolonger the need for large investments in national defence, the foundation of themanufacturing sector was found to be weak. As Kraak (2005, 59) noted, ‘There isnow widespread consensus that South Africa’s failure to shift to export-orientedindustrialization policies before the early 1990s has severely constrained thedevelopment of the South African manufacturing sector’. Since the end of apartheidmuch of the country’s natural mineral resources have been sent overseas to be usedin the manufacturing of a wide array of products and then exported back to thecountry as finished goods. Since the 1990s coordinated industry strategies to build upthe base of manufacturing skills have not been readily implemented by any stronggovernment initiatives. In fact McGrath (2002) notes that many South Africanscontinue to work in jobs that have not been impacted by new technologies at all.Unemployment levels have remained high and the economy has not generatedenough jobs to match the growing number of job applicants (Ashton 2005). Theseconditions are attested to in the manufacturing skill gap and can be seen in whatKraak (2008) identifies as due to a lack of clear educational pathways leading towork, in terms of both transparency and permeability.

Case of borrowing and adapting from the US to South Africa

The environmental conditions described above provided a welcoming space for amultinational partnership to take shape and eventually lead to the borrowing of

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a US based TVET programme focused on manufacturing skills. In 2007 the SouthAfrican National Tooling Initiative Program (NTIP) was looking for an existingmodel to use which brought in students at a foundational level and gave thempractical competence based skills as well as experience in the industry. As a multi-stakeholder partnership, the NTIP had identified dwindling numbers of employableworkers and a specific gap in tool, die and mould making skills. The goal was to findan existing framework that could be adopted by South Africa and used as part of alarger skill development programme within the manufacturing industry. Initially,models from Portugal and Germany were explored, but through a long process theM-Powered Program in Minnesota was identified. In forming the partnership thatwould lead to borrowing this programme, the Intsimbi (meaning ‘metal’ in Zulu)Partnership was formed between South Africa and US based stakeholders includingthe MnSCU.

MnSCU’s M-Powered Program

M-Powered is a programme that was designed through collaboration betweenMnSCU and HIRED, a Twin Cities employment training agency. It was developedwithin the Customized Training Division of Hennepin Technical College (HTC)through a $100,000 grant from the National Association of Manufacturing. As asuccessful model for providing short term training since 2005, HTC most recentlyreceived a 2.5 million dollar grant to focus on medical device manufacturing skills.

The particular characteristics of M-Powered are threefold. First, it is competencybased meaning that student work is analysed for and accredited through theNational Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS). Thus there is both anaccreditation from HTC and an external qualification standard. Second, studentsin the programme not only develop workplace skills, but also have access to broaderemployment services and support through HIRED. This allows for high rates ofjob placement and employability skill development for M-Powered participants.Finally, the programme is tailored to nontraditional students, but demand drivenand industry focused in a ‘coopetition’ format. Students have the opportunity toapply their classroom skills through apprenticeships and cooperating companiesunderstand that poaching of workers is not allowed.

From M-Powered to TDM-Powered

The goal of the Intsimbi Partnership was to take the M-Powered model and build itinto the TDM-Powered Program which would be used throughout South Africa. Indoing so they took all the major components from the model employed at HTC, butcustomized and adapted it in several ways. Unlike in Minnesota, there was a veryhigh end marketing strategy to educate prospective students about the manufactur-ing industry that included video kiosks touting the fact that this programme wouldgive practical skill and industry experience leading to available jobs. Next, a rigorousapplication process for perspective learners including oral interviews and aplacement assessment was used to enrol the most promising students. Placementtesting holds negative associations from the bygone era in South Africa, so it wasagreed that the US based Accuplacer Exam from the College Board would be used.The logistics of the implementation of this decision are an ongoing issue sincecomputerized testing is not always available and sending paper and pencil exams

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overseas is cumbersome. Finally, the curriculum was standardized and not left forlecturers to develop so that each location across the country uses the same materials.

One component that speaks to the differentiation of the TDM programme can beseen in the recruiting of staff for two specific positions hired at all seven of the initiallocations. First, lecturers were primarily sought from within the manufacturingindustry as opposed to current FET instructors. Once again personality tests,teaching demonstrations and training were employed to help fit the instructors withthe culture that TDM hoped to build. The backgrounds of the new lecturers rangedfrom small business owners to trainers from larger manufacturing companies.Through their knowledge of industry and passion for the trade it was hoped thatstudents would be instilled with pride for the profession. The second position was astudent support and life skill coordinator. This single point of contact, or SPOC, wasresponsible for a wide range of duties including student assessment and retention,relationship building with local social services and FET administrators, and writingreporting/tracking mechanisms. This job required a master’s degree in counselling orsocial work and at each location was teamed directly with a lecturer. In their firstyear the TDM motto of ‘Make It Happen’ was carried out through the dedicationof these staff teams going beyond their job descriptions by doing things such aspersonally driving learners 150 km round trip to access computers or contributingpersonal finances to support students living away from their families.

Now well into their second year, the TDM programme continues to develop.The number of accepted students has increased, the quantity of lecturers has morethan doubled, ongoing government funding has been secured and the programmesites have gone from 7 to 12 in diverse geographical regions of the country rangingfrom the Gauteng province (Johannesburg and Pretoria) to the northern rurallocation of Lephalale, Limpopo. Of course there remain ongoing issues such as thestudent credentialing process through NIMS which uses US based measurementsystem instead of metric. Originally funded through the NTIP, government fundshave been allocated but these are only given on a year by year basis making itdifficult to plan the next stages in Intsimbi’s skill development plan. Anotherconcern is that at the different sites TDM is housed mostly within the existing FETcolleges, but runs as a completely separate programme. This brings competitionwhere other FET manufacturing programmes exist and for limited workshop spaceor resources.

One story is indicative of the culture established within the staff and students ofthe TDM-Powered Program. In 2010 during a student strike and boycott at theNkangala FET College in Middelburg, protests essentially closed the campus andstudents encircled it to keep lecturers and learners out. In the midst of this the TDMlecturer was approached by his class of 25 students who unanimously wanted tocontinue their classes as normal. He found a way to get access to a remote part of thecampus, secretly shuttled the students in and carried on over the commotionhappening outside.

Consideration of factors for TVET system borrowing

Through a review of the conditions related to TVET and manufacturing in SouthAfrica and then with an explanation of the history of how the TDM-PoweredProgram was borrowed and adopted from the United States, there are several factorswhich can now be highlighted. It is precisely the borrowing of this type of technical

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training programme, aimed at a particular industry, which makes it possible to pointout such influences. Though not meant to be exhaustive, the following factorsprovide evidence of unique considerations from this investigation of the TDMprogramme.

Partnerships

The case of the TDM-Powered Program demonstrates what Lewis (2009) advocates,particularly related to South Africa, that private and public entities join their powersto overcome traditionally adversarial ends. It meets the needs of industry byproviding qualified workers who can experience the industry through two-thirds ofclassroom skill development and one-third of on the job training or apprenticeship.Specific companies make offers to students who complete the second year of theprogramme and provide for their ongoing development as incumbent workers whilecontinuing in TDM. As noted by Oketch (2007), this example of private provision inTVET is seen increasingly in other African countries as well.

Though the South African government did not directly initiate the programme,they do provide resources in the way of funding and access to the FET collegefacilities. This may be because TDM targets what the South African government hasidentified as important ‘intermediate’ skills within its national education policy(Kraak 2008). It also meets a need to have standardized programme outcomes acrossdiverse conditions found in every province, and a credentialing system (NIMSstandards) that according to Phillips and Ochs (2003) reflects the ANC government’sdesire for ‘outcomes based education’. This partnership between public and privateentities expects human capital development within the specific manufacturing sectorbut also at the national level.

Skill development

Reviewing skill dependency in the manufacturing sector, Kraak (2005) found thatthere had been job loss in the intermediate and lower skill categories, but yet thesector remained highly dependent on the intermediate or artisan skill level. TheNTIP specifically hopes to build a hierarchy or pyramid of skill developmentprogrammes that cover the entire range of manufacturing production. This multi-skill approach is advocated in the literature (Ashton 2005; Kraak 2005), becausealthough globalization tends to emphasize higher value added production, it doesnot nevertheless do away with more foundational forms of skill or production.

One roadblock in South Africa to balancing low, intermediate and higher levelskills is the historical association the spectrum of skills has with race (McGrath andAkoojee 2007; Soudien 2007). However, the TDM programme demonstrates topotential learners how training leads to jobs that are not confining, but allow forcontinued development and higher skills and, thus, higher pay. Further itincorporates basic life skills, broad occupational or industry skills and specific jobrelated skills which, according to Bennell and Segerstrom (1998), helps certifystudents’ ability to learn as they progress in their careers. In doing so it has in somemeasure changed the negative perception about vocational education and hassuccessfully recruited many black and female students in direct contrast to trends intraditional apprenticeship profiles (Kraak 2008). This may be in part because theprogramme targets basic skills that can be built up through a transparent pathway of

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traditional class work and apprenticeships leading to intermediate and eventuallyhigher level skills.

Lecturers

The lecturers in the TDM programme offer a final factor for consideration. As wasnoted earlier, they passed several rounds of rigorous interviews and psychologicaltests in addition to teacher training and evaluations after being recruited not fromthe ranks of current FET colleges, but primarily from industry. All this was done toinstil a new understanding or prototype for what is expected of TDM lecturers. Theyare expected to model to students’ pride in the industry and professional standards,while also being personal learning advocates, and direct connections to apprentice-ships. The value of teacher training, subject matter expertise and diverse manage-ment skills are all themes that run through Tikly’s (2011) estimation of what it wouldtake to change the quality of South African education systems. TDM’s 18 lecturersare representative of students in terms of race, which stands in direct opposition toconditions found in the majority of FET college lecturers (Akoojee 2008). Theirdiverse backgrounds and experiences may contribute to an ability to navigate diverselearning situations and work with historically disadvantaged learners.

Conclusion

In addition to the factors presented above, there are at least two unifying themes thatcan be seen in how the unique conditions in South Africa directly influenced how theTDM-Powered Program was borrowed and adopted from the United States:

. The value in having broad based partnerships in TVET borrowing.

. The benefits of using a holistic educational approach to human resourcedevelopment.

First, this review has shown the multitude of players involved in funding, framingand carrying out the process of borrowing a TVET programme. On the SouthAfrican side this case involves collaboration among a manufacturing industrypartnership (NTIP), the South African government and FET post-secondarycolleges. It included setting up an international partnership (Intsimbi) that involvesongoing consultation from the original programme developers (MnSCU andHIRED), as well as international vendors (NIMS credentialing and Accuplacerassessments). All of these actors played a role in making it possible to borrow HTC’sM-Powered Program and adapt it into the TDM-Powered Program in South Africa.

Second, this case illustrates a holistic educational approach to human resourceand skill development, in that it provides for the personal support of students inaddition to the teaching of specific technical skills both of which lead to workplaceemployment. With a goal of offering alternative pathways to students who may nothave access to traditional vocational education, the TDM uses two distinct staff roleswhich are distinguishing characteristic of the programme. Lecturers provide theoryand practical technical training to students, set up apprenticeships to apply learningand act as a role model of professionalism from industry. Coordinators at eachlocation offer broad based life skill development, general education training in topicssuch as math as well as career and personal counselling. The holistic approach of

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TDM may also play a role in changing the negative perceptions of technicaleducation highlighted earlier, while also raising the interest in developing workplaceskills in the manufacturing industry.

In different ways each of these points highlight the unique environment that thiscase study provides to review ways in which a TVET programme originating inone country must be reimagined due to conditions in the new context. In addition,these themes further reinforce two potential promises of technical and vocationaleducation or training: human capital development at the national level and personalskill development at the individual level.

References

Akoojee, S. 2005. Private further education and training in South Africa: The changinglandscape. Cape Town: Human Sciences Research Council.

Akoojee, S. 2008. FET college lecturers: The devolving link in the South African skillsdevelopment equation. Journal of Vocational Education and Training 60, no. 3: 297–13.

Ashton, D.N. 2005. High skills: The concept and its application to South Africa. Journal ofEducation and Work 18, no. 1: 19–32.

Bennell, P., and J. Segerstrom. 1998. Vocational education and training in developingcountries: Has the world bank got it right? International Journal of EducationalDevelopment 18, no. 4: 271–87.

Kraak, A. 2005. Human resources development and the skills crisis in South Africa: The needfor a multi-pronged strategy. Journal of Education and Work 18, no. 1: 57–83.

Kraak, A. 2008. Incoherence in the South African labour market for intermediate skills.Journal of Education and Work 21, no. 3: 197–215.

Lewis, T. 2009. Towards reclaiming the high ground in the discourse of vocationalism indeveloping countries. International Journal of Educational Development 29: 558–64.

McGrath, S. 2002. Skills for development: A new approach to international cooperation inskills development? Journal of Vocational Education and Training 54, no. 3: 413–30.

McGrath, S., and S. Akoojee. 2007. Education and skills for development in South Africa:Reflections on the accelerated and shared growth initiative for South Africa. InternationalJournal of Educational Development 27: 421–34.

Oketch, M.O. 2007. To vocationalise or not to vocationalise? Perspectives on current trendsand issues in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Africa.International Journal of Education Development 27: 220–34.

Phillips, D., and K. Ochs. 2003. Process of policy borrowing in education: Some explanatoryand analytical devices. Comparative Education 39, no. 4: 451–61.

Soudien, C. 2007. The ‘‘A’’ factor: Coming to terms with the question of legacy in SouthAfrican education. International Journal of Educational Development 27: 182–93.

Tikly, L. 2011. A roadblock to social justice? An analysis and critique of the South Africaneducation roadmap. International Journal of Educational Development 31: 86–94.

Turbin, J. 2001. Policy borrowing: Lessons from European attempts to transfer trainingpractices. International Journal of Training and Development 5, no. 2: 96–111.

Young, M. 2006. Reforming the further education and training curriculum: An internationalperspective. In Knowledge, curriculum and qualifications for South African furthereducation, ed. M. Young and J. Gamble, 46–63. Cape Town, SA: HSRC Press.

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