SYMPOSIUM REPORT 1 - Symposium Proceedings - National Symposium on Development of Qualifications for Vocational and Occupational Trainers and Educators This report documents the proceedings of the two-day symposium Held at the Kopanong Conference Centre, Benoni, South Africa 25-26 August 2009 The views in the report do not necessarily reflect those of the FET Institute, Ford Foundation, Swiss South African Co-operation Initiative (SSACI) or MERSETA
Transcript
SYMPOSIUM REPORT 1
- Symposium Proceedings -
National Symposium on
Development of Qualifications for Vocational and Occupational
Trainers and Educators
This report documents the proceedings of the two-day symposium
Held at the Kopanong Conference Centre, Benoni, South Africa
25-26 August 2009
The views in the report do not necessarily reflect those of the FET Institute, Ford Foundation, Swiss South African Co-operation Initiative (SSACI) or MERSETA
Message from the Director, FET Institute.................................................................................................... 3
List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................ 5
1 Welcome and Official Opening ..................................................................................................................... 6
2 South African perspectives ............................................................................................................................ 9
3 International perspectives .......................................................................................................................... 13
4 South African Higher Education perspectives .................................................................................... 18
5 Industry perspectives on occupational trainers ................................................................................ 23
6 Working group discussions ........................................................................................................................ 27
7 Way forward..................................................................................................................................................... 33
Delegate List ......................................................................................................................................................... 35
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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR, FET INSTITUTE
This symposium entitled the ‘Development of Qualifications for Vocational and Occupational Trainers and Educators’, was made possible through generous financial support from the Ford Foundation, the Swiss South African Co-operation Initiative (SSACI) and the MERSETA.
The primary goals of the symposium were:
To bring together national role-players that share an interest in the training and/or professional development of occupational trainers/educators in South Africa
To provide a platform for showcasing both South African and international research into the professional development of practitioners
South Africa will shortly have a framework of qualifications for college lecturer development, thus going the route of developed and developing countries in other parts of the world. International research shows that vocational teacher education has become increasingly characterized by standardization, certification and professionalization. While high-level academic qualifications are seen as critical for coping with the knowledge demands of modernized vocational curricula, there is also the recognition that teaching in a vocational context places additional requirements on college lecturers - that of understanding the workplace that college programmes are preparing learners to enter. It is this dual responsibility that brings together the world of the academe and that of the workplace. Occupational trainers fulfil a crucial role in training for, and in the workplace, often on behalf of education institutions. In more mature vocational systems there are close links between workplace and colleges, where both contexts are sites of instruction and assessment, and educators and trainers enable and support each other to the benefit of their learners.
The conference was opened by Dr John Pampallis, special advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, who was able to attend the full programme on the first day. We are grateful for this support from the national ministry.
Representatives from higher education institutions, the national Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the business sector were present.
Over the two days of the symposium, it provided for:
An overview of the emerging education and training landscape, with particular emphasis on its impact on the training of vocational and occupational trainers and educators
An overview of the Draft Policy on Qualifications for FET College Educators (Department of Higher Education and Training)
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A report on work being done on the Occupational Qualifications Framework (QCTO Task Team)
A report on work being done by the QCTO Occupational Instructor/Trainer Constituency Group
Engaging with universities that are keen to develop of qualifications for FET college lecturers
Learning from business, industry and professional bodies (statutory and non-statutory) concerned with occupational training
Learning from international examples of vocational teacher training in Denmark and Germany
The presentations and discussions of this symposium will, it is hoped, establish a platform for further collaborative thinking about areas of mutual engagement in the training of vocational educators and occupational trainers into the future.
Dr Joy Papier Director FET Institute September 2009
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
DHET Department of Higher Education and Training
FET Further Education and Training
FETI Further Education and Training Institute, University of the Western Cape
HE Higher Education
HEQC Higher Education Quality Committee
MERSETA Metal Engineering and Related Sector Education and Training Authority
NBI National Business Initiative
NPDE National Professional Diploma in Education
NQF National Qualifications Framework
OFO Occupational Framework for Qualifications
PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education
QCTO Quality Council for Trades and Occupations
Umalusi General and Further Education and Training Quality Assurance Body (aka Umalusi)
VEOP Vocational Education Orientation Programme
VET Vocational Education and Training
VTE Vocational Teacher Education
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1
DR JOHN PAMPALLIS
In his opening remarks to the symposium, Dr John Pampallis, Special Advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and Training set the context for the symposium by examining the role of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the national importance of the issues under discussion. He indicated that he had been asked by Minister Blade Nzimande to attend the symposium and that FET college educator development was a
serious consideration of the ministry.
The brief of the DHET included a range of formerly disparate functions including the universities and universities of technology, FET colleges and other colleges, skills development and adult education.
The FET colleges had received much attention including recapitalization, curriculum reform and mergers, but there is still much to be done, as indicated by research done by, for example, FETI, CHET, NBI, and HSRC.
Dr Pampallis said that many of the problems in colleges stem from a lack of educator training. Lecturers either have no teacher training, or had teacher training aimed at school- teachers, but there is no tradition in SA of training college teachers specifically for their context. He added that the conference programme pointed to a clear interest in this area, and that he was looking forward to the deliberations in this regard.
POLICY ENVIRONMENT
Seamus Needham, research and planning manager in FETI, and Fiona Cameron Brown, of Fiona Cameron Brown and Associates provided an overview of the South African policy environment. (for the full text, see Appendix 1). Cameron Brown said that a key element was that the skills sector knew little of education sector developments and the converse also applied. DHET would unite
1 DR JOHN PAMPALLIS
Advisor to Minister of Higher Education and Training
2 FIONA CAMERON-BROWN
FCB Consulting
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various elements previously under the department of labour and department of education.
Needham outlined a range of critical policy documents for the FET college sector including
FET colleges Act (2006)
National plan for FET colleges (2008)
Draft Framework of FET lecturer qualifications and development, 2008
New funding norms. – implementation in April 2010
Finalization of NQF review
JIPSA and HRD strategy
Future policy impacts (Proclamation 44, establishment of department of higher education and training)
FET colleges have new governance and curriculum arrangements whereby colleges are juristic persons under the act, which resulted in the formation of FETCEO to organize College Councils as employers. The national plan for FET speaks inter alia to a target of 1 million learners by 2014, focusing on the 17-24 year age group, systemic interaction between FET and HE, and a focus on workplace training. The recently gazetted Draft policy framework for lecturer qualifications includes Initial Teacher Education (Vocational) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and sets up three categories of college lecturer.
Whilst there have been some research initiatives in vocational FET, there has been very little quantitative research after the earlier NBI reports. A more recent report arises from the research into out-of-school youth undertaken by a FETI-CHET project, which reports that there are 2.8 million youth between the ages of 18-24 who are NEETs (not in education, employment or training), 700 000 of whom have a matric certificate. Urgent alternatives have to be considered for this pool of potential.
Cameron Brown pointed out that in the case of the occupational trainer, the new NQF sub-frameworks to accommodate them were still emerging. The HEQF was gazetted in 2007 and retained in the NQF Act of 2008, but Umalusi and QCTO were still working on their frameworks. There has been, however development of occupational trainer criteria under the proposed Organising Framework for Occupations. A category 2223 for training and development professional (with a number of alternative titles) was being developed and an assessment practitioner 2223303 still needed to be defined. Cameron Brown argued that the minimum requirements which are assessor and subject matter expertise are inadequate as it does not take into account training in the facilitation of learning.
3 SEAMUS NEEDHAM
FET Institute
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Cameron Brown noted that there was currently no research on industry trainers. There is thus a need for research into ‘who’ does training, ‘how’ they do it, and ‘what’ equips them to do it. Saldru research noted that there was a 50% underutilisation of state owned enterprises for training. Business generally had difficulty in finding trainers, and assessors were largely poorly trained.
The NSDS 2005-2010 objectives implied that occupational trainers needed to understand the demands of the workplace, and also acquire pedagogical (teaching and learning) expertise. There was a more complex role for and emphasis on occupational trainers and instructors given skills shortages, an environment in flux (including technological and systemic changes) and imperatives to be globally competitive. Work done in Australia suggested a range of roles and competencies for occupational trainers.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
A participant asked about the emphasis on NQF 5 and 6. Needham said that the NQF 5 and 6 would be a critical area of engagement between further education, higher education and the skills sector.
There was also a question about whether Umalusi would fall under the DHET as well, since it was responsible for quality assurance (of Nated and NCV). Dr Pampallis said that it appeared that Umalusi will continue to report on the colleges sector through the department of basic education, but there will have to be a relationship with DHET.
Another question asked what happens in the case of higher education lecturers and their training for the job of teaching. Joy Papier said that universities have internal structures for development of their lecturers, but in the case of college lecturers there is a national policy on the table, hence the need for this symposium.
A participant reminded the symposium that private provision was much bigger than public provision, and perhaps needed to be incorporated into conversations on FET. Cameron Brown noted that there were private providers training in industry and also training in colleges part-time, therefore these discussions could apply to private providers equally.
A participant asked if what was intended in the Policy was a ‘fit-for-purpose’ qualification. Papier said that this was what the framework intended to result in. She added that there was a strong view in the international literature that vocational lecturers needed to understand both the practical workplace and the discipline/subject matter. The difficulty was that universities were training vocational teachers in the same way that they were training school teachers, emphasizing the institutional disciplinary learning without the workplace component.
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2
SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES
DRAFT NATIONAL POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR LECTURER QUALIFICATIONS
Aruna Singh, Director: FET Colleges Programmes and qualifications in the Department of Higher Education and Training, presented the Draft National Policy Framework for Lecturer Qualifications. Currently there are 50 FET colleges, 236 sites of delivery, approximately 10,000 lecturers of various statuses, and a mix of NATED, NCV and skills programmes on offer.
However, there was inconsistent employment of lecturers across
colleges because there was no regulation. There was also a high level of variation in lecturer qualifications, expertise and practice, Qualifications ranged from occupational certificates to Master degrees, and occasional Doctoral degrees.
The main challenges presented by the current FET college lecturer population were lecturer qualifications, integrated teaching,
assessment and workplace knowledge and experience. Lecturers were qualified, but not for the nature of the programme currently being taught. For example the NCV curriculum had a stronger disciplinary base. The integrated teaching intention placed new demands on lecturers which were not part of their previous experience. Moreover, integrated teaching required integrated assessment, and lecturers were not able to follow this through. The depth of capacity in the colleges to design and conduct assessments was a huge challenge. In addition, the currency of workplace knowledge and experience is often non-existent or outdated, with no enabling mechanism to ensure that lecturers are able to update their experience. The lecturer training environment is thus complex.
A difficulty in arriving at the Draft Framework was that it had no precedent (like many other issues in FET). Research has been thin. A DoE commissioned review of the research showed that there was very little research, and rather ad-hoc, and there was not enough information on different models. A study tour was done of Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland where department officials had visited training institutions, colleges and
4 ARUNA SINGH
Director: FET colleges Programmes & Qualifications: DHET
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vocational schools to see how policy intentions filtered down into training programmes. The DoE framework had tried to draw on what was possible from international best practice.
The Framework deals with the context of vocational education, initial professional and continuing professional education and sets certain basic requirements for categories of lecturer. All lecturers require the basic academic competence of a Matric with HE entrance. This then sets an imperative for the grade 10 artisan lecturer to comply. Another compulsory component is the vocational education orientation programme (VEOP). This is intended to distinguish the vocational educator from the general academic school-teacher. There are overlaps between the general and vocational educator though, as much of the work done is in the classroom.
The general pre-requisites for college lecturers are academic qualifications, vocational qualifications and work experience. But this varies between three categories of lecturer.
The general academic lecturers require a degree and an NQF Level 6 certificate in education. This will require HE to develop these qualifications.
Vocational lecturers will require a specialized diploma/degree with 3 years work experience with a VEOP, and thereafter a teaching qualification at Level 5.
The practical instructors play an important role, but will deal only with workshop training and require trade expertise and the VEOP. They will not require a teaching or academic qualification.
The VEOP is an immediate focus, and the document suggests that there are particular competencies that vocational lecturers need. All lecturers will be required to do this, including teachers from schools. The key elements are integrated teaching methods, integrated assessment methods, student academic support and work placement management.
The Framework was expected to be gazetted imminently for public comment by end of September 2009.
The institutional orientation to requirements set out in the framework will follow as a DHET initiative. Singh emphasized that lecturers would need to be supported on a large scale and that higher education would need to develop the proposed qualifications and the VEOP if these requirements were to be met.
QUALITY COUNCIL ON TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS – OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Chris Vorwerk, independent consultant to QCTO, spoke on emerging structures and concepts. Vorwerk noted that there was a shift in qualifications design and in assessment and quality control. The shift is away from accreditation to a ‘light touch’ responding to problems and self evaluation.
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Second, there is a shift towards demand driven occupational learning systems. An information system had been developed which would need to be managed in the transfer to the DHET. This will also develop a curriculum, which will be the basis for providers to design syllabi. SETAs will register learning programmes linked to designated trades. Skills programmes will also be regulated. There should be a shift of research away from workplace skills plans to looking at outputs and programmes used.
Vorwerk distinguished between differing skills development discourses: being “qualified in” (education); “qualified to” (labour market); and “qualified as belonging to” (praxis). A skills education discourse resulting in a certificate/diploma centred on what was taught. A skills training centred on what
learners learnt to do and resulted in a title (designation) rather than a certificate/diploma. A third discourse is skills-praxis where people live and act in a role and inhabit certain identities.
The organizing framework for occupations (OFO) would link qualifications to occupations by providing a skills based coded classification system. Each occupation would have individual descriptors. The purpose was to capture scarce and critical skills. The proposed national occupational pathway framework would be the organizing tool of the OFO. These consist of clusters, fields and families. The utility of this system was aimed at providing learners with occupational pathways
He outlined two types of occupational qualification:
the national occupational award (competence to practice)
National skills certificates (competence to practice a specialization)
Vorwerk argued that FET was not just about the pipeline learners (school leavers). A stumbling block for artisans was theory, and they needed certain formal theory thresholds for progression. The QCTO and education therefore needed to align with each other.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Discussion ensued about the extent of the challenge in meeting the needs of FET college lecturers. Research in the Eastern and Western Cape indicated that lecturers were not confident in what they were teaching (or were not teaching in their area of expertise), or did not meet the expected qualification requirements. High level skills and knowledge transfer were being expected of lecturers, but the salaries were not competitive in terms of attracting or retaining suitably qualified staff. College lecturers were expected to be able to know how to know and how to do and therefore competencies required were the key areas
5 CHRIS VORWERK
Consultant: QCTO
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of academic, professional and vocational/workplace experience. This did not however match the situation in the colleges. There were challenges around workplace experience, subject matter expertise and pedagogical training. There was therefore an urgent need to do extensive work with the current cohort of lecturers to enable them to meet the challenges of the curriculum. Previous work had focused on the delivery of the NCV, and a more organic development of the lecturer cadre was now required. The VEOP for example could become a practical intervention, but would require an indication of what kind of institutions would deliver it.
A second issue for discussion was the formalization of the FET college lecturer profession. Registration with SACE would have implications for continuing professional development, and could learn from processes already under way there for the school teaching component.
A third issue raised in the discussion centred on how to begin speaking across the discourses of education and skills. Here it was argued that this would be a case of ‘the road is made by walking’, but that it would be important to create an identity for occupational qualifications, as these did not have enough public currency.
A participant reported on a systemic audit of FET colleges in the Eastern Cape which included voluntary responses from 500 FET educators. Half of these educators indicated that they were not confident in areas that they were teaching, or were not teaching in their area of expertise. Aruna Singh said that incorrect deployment of staff should be confronted at institutional level, but that the department recognized the problem. Singh said that it was improbable that industry salaries would be matched by colleges, and that the decision to enter a particular profession is a conscious decision made in the knowledge that there would be trade-offs.
Another participant commented that the vocational teacher had to be able to do and to teach. Singh said that the three key elements are disciplinary knowledge, the professional qualification (vocational) and practical instruction.
There was a concern about the danger of separating theory and practice if practical instructors only taught practical classes, and that there would be practical implications of the theory subjects taught by vocational lecturers, hence lecturers should have workplace expertise.
Prof Rolf Stumpf noted that the HEQC and CHE were developing qualification standards, and had met with public and private institutions. They were proposing a distinction based on primary general/disciplinary knowledge and professional oriented qualifications (applied theory). He said it was crucial that CHE, QCTO and Umalusi discuss quality assurance issues and areas of overlap. If the world of training was to link to higher education, then it would probably be around NQF 5 and 6 as the interface.
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3 INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
INTRODUCTION
Colleagues from abroad enabled us to take a step back from our own system and see vocational teacher training from a different perspective. The challenges of vocational teacher education are not confronted in South Africa alone, but have precedents in other parts of the world, where the benefit of history and hindsight can assist to inform our processes.
GERMANY
Dr Werner Heitmann, programme director of the GTZ provided a German perspective on vocational and occupational instructor training in Germany. Heitmann argued that each training system is part of a broader education system, and it is important to understand that context. The German model has similarities with the Central European model, sharing philosophies. ‘Duality’ was a key concept in that philosophy where companies and schools are both learning sites. This is at the level of learning sites, laws, regulation, supervision and funding. VET’s goal was seen as the production of employable and work-ready people. The ministry of economic affairs is the client of VET and education has a service role. In South Africa the 1% training levy on business is low compared to experience in other countries where it is 6% or more.
Over the last 30 years the traditional learning approach has moved toward learning for ‘action competence’, based on
pressures of globalisation. This has an effect on teacher education. Traditional learning still occurs, but the shift has been to give learners opportunity to learn to act.
Heitmann noted that the NQF was an important element, but was not a system in itself. Germany has 380 state recognized occupations and a VET ordinance and general training plan (under the BIBB). BIBB has 500 occupational researchers.
6 DR WERNER HEITMANN
Programme Director: GTZ
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In actual training, learners in Germany undergo 80% workplace and 20% college training. This culminates in a final trade test, rather than portfolios of evidence. Tracer studies into learnership graduation placement by Merseta and others in South Africa found that 70% gained a job, which was high compared to other forms of learning. Heitmann argued that this confirmed the merits of duality with companies and schools as learning sites.
In Germany there are different types of teacher/instructor:
vocational theory teacher with generic relevant knowledge and VET theory
technical practice teacher (generic practical VET skills)
Occupational instructor (occupation and context specific skills, workplace practice and experience
Heitmann argued that simple hand skills should be trained at schools, because technology is constantly changing at a pace which refurbishing of schools could not achieve. Germany has 120,000 teachers as opposed to 10000 in South Africa with 70,000 teachers in the workplace.
There are different models of vocational teacher education in Germany which has a federal system:
Engineering discipline model – focus on discipline and subject knowledge
Occupational cluster model – critiqued discipline model for lack of practice convergence
Modularized inter-disciplinary model - critiqued the occupational cluster mode for difficulties with integrating new job profiles.
The full slide presentation is available.
DENMARK
Susanne Gottlieb, head of department of the national centre for educational training of vocational teachers, Metropol University College in Denmark, provided a Danish perspective on vocational teacher education. Gottlieb’s institution has a specialised focus on the training of vocational teachers.
The Danish context consists of 5.4 million inhabitants, a modern welfare state with free public services in many areas and high living standards. Employment rates are very high. Decision-making, outcomes and advice of the education system were determined at the national level but are interpreted at the VET school level. Decision-making in education is done at a national level by parliament, ministry of education and training committees, The outcomes are decided by laws, general order of VET , regulations, educational guidelines, and are advised by the advisory council for IVT and teachers and unions. At the school level
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the decision makers are the school board and management and teacher and students. The outcomes are then driven by educational plans and teaching plans which the teachers have to be trained to do.
The Danish also have a ‘dual’ training system whereby learners are required to enter both school and workplace contexts. Learners can enter the dual system via a school or a company pathway. The school pathway would involve completing a basic introductory course and then seeking a job placement on that basis. The company pathway would involve the company nominating the learner for the basic introductory course. On completion of both components, students would enter the vocational programme.
In Denmark the formal demands on VET teachers are:
qualifications in initial VET
relevant education
5 years relevant and recent work experience
In Denmark, many vocational teachers obtained their teacher training after they started in employment in the colleges. These teachers worked half time and undertook training for the other half time. Teachers are therefore rooted in context of college and practical problems there.
Vocational teachers face various challenges. The profile and skills requirements of learners are changing. The VET students, though still youths, are older than before and have experienced other parts of the education system or have tried many things before. Students have upper secondary or higher education, and a number of students have a non-Danish background.
Metropol used Kolb’s Learning Cycle as their model for training vocational teachers. The model includes experience, reflection, knowledge and activities. Teaching lecturers to organize learning experiences to support skills learning is a challenge. There are classrooms and workshops, but also rooms for reflection with books and discussion forums. Thus the teacher must be very aware of the knowledge skills and outcomes needed by students and must be able to support students’ learning activities. The teacher must be able to use different learning techniques and take a problem based approach learning as its starting point.
Erling Lars Dale, a Danish scholar, is instructive for different competence levels for teachers to develop:
Competence level 1: teaching/education : development of performance
7 PROF SUSANNE GOTTLIEB
HOD: Metropol University
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Competence level 2: teacher in team . e.g. to develop local educational plans which transforms ministry’s laws into local educational plans. Need to be able to speak to each other. Big challenge for teachers. (vs. classroom as domain)
Competence level 3: construct new practical theory. (e.g. students change). Teacher can connect practice with theory and need ways to do this. For example doing interviews with students, action research and the like. Teachers need tools to learn to learn.
The aim of the VET teachers programme focuses on competences and applied competences, with practical problems faced by teachers as the starting point. The programme consists of 3 elements: theory, practice and self studies. The principles of teacher training are student centred learning, reflective practitioners, and mentoring in practice. The programme is a ‘sandwich’ or dual model where half of the time the teacher teaches according to schedule at a college, and half of the time the teacher is in training. The teacher enters the institution, goes to teaching practice, does NCE module 1, goes to college, followed by NCE model 2, practice, then college and so on. The theoretical assignment is based on a problem identified by the teacher. The teacher meets with an external person on the assignment and then qualifies for practical assessment.
The evaluation and assessment of basic teacher training consists of a portfolio method, and trainees have a mentor or practical supervisor at their college.
The most important principles are
VET students have competences for future labour market
The needs of the learner are at the centre, therefore applied pedagogics (not academic approach), and changing focus from subjects and teaching to meaningful learning activities
Modularized programme with a holistic interdisciplinary and problem based approach
Teachers are role models being aware of new developments in the sector. (development professional, pedagogical, teacher teachers, use relevant and modern equipment and reflective practice)
VET school organizes an inclusive learning environment and a practice supervisor and/or mentor at every school.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
A participant noted that in both the German and Danish systems employers were deeply involved and asked how these countries had persuaded their companies to take on trainees, as in South Africa finding work placements is a big problem.
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Gottlieb said that the Danish system is several hundreds years old and that such a culture of employer responsibility cannot be created overnight, however their unions put pressure on the employers. Employers are compensated when a student is in school. All employers have to pay money to the fund. Heitmann said similarly that the German system is rooted deep in society. In Germany mainly smaller companies are used for the workplace training, and the company gains the benefit according to research.
Another participant commented that the State (in SA) is a share-holder in some industries, and should put pressure on companies to train. He cautioned that we should take into account contextual factors and not be seduced by models from elsewhere because it may not be possible at our level of development. This caution also impacts on where we need to pitch the level of training for vocational lecturers. Gottlieb agreed that small successes were better than big mistakes.
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4 SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION PERSPECTIVES
EXPANDING THE FRAME OF UNIVERSITY TEACHER EDUCATION
Dr Joy Papier, director of the FET Institute at UWC presented a paper entitled ‘expanding the frame of university teacher education’. Papier noted that college lecturer training did not fall under traditional teacher education, few universities offered suitable programmes and these were generally adapted school- teacher offerings.
Papier said that there were a number of reasons for universities not offering programmes to vocational teachers. This included time taken for programmes to be established, no specified HE teacher qualifications for college lecturers, education faculty focused on school teacher development, the viability of training small numbers of vocational teachers, and universities not having engaged with the meaning and nature of vocational education.
Papier noted that recent FET policies raised the bar for vocational lecturers. The national framework gave legitimacy to college lecturer qualifications and modularized programmes, the National Plan intended to expand student numbers - therefore lecturer numbers had to increase, and that vocational education is becoming part of academic discourse.
Universities need to unpack the 4 foundational requirements of the framework:
Subject matter expertise
Pedagogic expertise
Up to date workplace expertise
Basic academic competence.
New entrants will require a high level of knowledge competence and applied disciplinary knowledge especially for the NCV programmes. Subject didactics brings together the discipline and its application in teaching the subject, a specialist ‘vocational pedagogy’ which relates to the purpose, and workplaces can be sites of knowledge application. Ofsted
8 DR JOY PAPIER
Director: FET Institute
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(2004) noted that there was an absence of vocational pedagogy which weakened the FE college curriculum in the UK.
An important consideration is that universities are fairly autonomous in how they deliver and design curricula, and perhaps common outcomes are needed on which to ‘hang’ curriculum elements. This would allow institutions still to be creative in their design while covering the necessary features of the qualification.
There are various models of initial teacher education for vocational lecturers across the world:
top up pedagogic qualification (on top of graduate subject qualification and workplace knowledge)
in-service initial teacher training
integrated programmes (where students do subject disciplines as well as pedagogy in an integrated undergraduate programme)
Papier raised the issue of how to develop a curriculum in South Africa, including curriculum design, entry requirements, and assessment structure. She posed the questions ‘what is the knowledge-base appropriate to vocational pedagogy’, and ‘what makes vocational education different (to general academic education)?’.
Common principles can be gleaned from international practice in vocational teacher education:
set of outcomes informs curriculum design
modularized curriculum
constructivist pedagogies
mentorship
She quoted Grollman and Finch (1989) who said that teacher educators may need to undergo professional development in order to familiarize themselves with the vocational context.
Papier suggested that universities start by considering various models and a phased approach to delivery which is more incremental e.g. offering a part qualification or a Certificate course first before a full degree programme. Universities do have experience in teaching pedagogic competencies. Whatever strategy was adopted though, a collegial conversation would be more valuable than institutions ‘going it alone’. Papier argued that partnerships were needed that include college, university and workplace expertise. Teaching practice would be enriched by exposure to work environments. New modalities of delivery are needed.
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Papier concluded that there was sufficient evidence to show that
vocational educator training is worthwhile and necessary
there is a need for highly educated and skilled staff
scholarship and debate on issues in vocational education are increasing.
PONDERING THE IMPROBABLE
Prof. Peliwe Lolwana, professor extraordinaire at the University of the Witwatersrand presented.
Lolwana said that the FET colleges were given a significantly new remit, which is broader than what is usually assigned to them, and which is often ignored.
Lolwana said that in other countries vocational education was becoming a pre-employment mechanism in managing the transition to work, which is different to the employment upgrade option previously. VET educator development is a new phenomenon, particularly in the UK with which we have an older relationship. Countries do different things for example add-on teaching profiles, benchmarked pedagogies and so on.
Institutions are managed differently: Some are more flexible colleges, while others are like secondary institutions. What is common to all is the theoretical-practical content. Recruitment standards vary widely but often the secondary teacher is used as a benchmark. Some emphasize occupational experiences, others pedagogies embedded in subject matter. The common model is in-service training and development.
The research and development of VET varies from economic and labour market research, to theoretical, scientific research, to research with a practical focus. Lolwana said that the British had brought a particular kind of technical education to SA in which science and disciplinary knowledge was framed in particular way. This was the type of vocational education that was inherited. Also there was a decline in apprenticeships at the same time that artisan training was being deracialised. At this time training was focused on practical, low-level skills.
She noted that if we are talking about pre-employment, the range of skills needed is wider than just practical skills and in developing different fields of knowledge. Work processes have been changing, traditional jobs disappearing or of a shorter span, and preparing people for jobs that may not be there soon after.
9 PROF PELIWE LOLWANA
Professor Extraordinaire; Wits University
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Lolwana argued that there was a history of neglect and ignorance by higher education. However HE can offer research opportunities, production of scholars and provide access to FET learner and educators.
She next outlined different approaches to FET curriculum development:
a practical oriented curriculum, training for employment
a knowledge-focused curriculum that can promote a higher level of abstraction, but we need to know where students will go with this;
education faculties form teams with professional /specialist fields
pedagogy that focuses on the link between theory and practice
combination of the above
establishment of links between high-end professional skills and intermediate FET skills.
We need to find a social base for vocational education and need to link these skills through the professions.
Lolwana concluded that there is no single answer to training staff for the very wide remit of FET. SA needs institutions that can admit the masses who are knocking at the doors of further education. It is necessary for higher education to be preserved as an elite institution, since we must recognize the role of other forms of post-secondary education. Finally, growth in FET needs to be underpinned by empirical and scientific research, not anecdotes.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Discussion focused on the roles to be played by different bodies. The role of SETAs in the FET remit needed to be expanded on. There also needed to be a clear and agreed understanding of who the colleges are, to inform whether a broad or specialist curriculum is needed. The role of universities has to be seen as being broader than just faculties of education alone and involved the specialist knowledges in various other faculties at universities. It was noted that a new element could be a developing integration of thought under the new ministry. This integration could lead to a refocus of understanding about roles and remits of the different role players.
Concern was expressed that the implementation of vocational teacher education was being given scant attention. The emphasis on frameworks and qualifications lacked the sense of urgency that lecturers were currently in the system battling to deliver the NCV curriculum and needed support immediately. Whereas some countries threw money at teacher education, the South African case was throwing qualifications.
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Another concern was expressed that not enough was known about the college as a workplace, and whether enough was known to develop qualifications for these. The starting point would have to be that more information is needed hence the ongoing need for relevant research to be done, especially quantitative research.
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5 INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES ON OCCUPATIONAL TRAINERS
MERSETA PILOT PROJECT
Derrick Peo, MERSETA, explored industry perspectives on the training of work based trainers. Occupational competence consisted of a range of competences.
Peo told the conference that there was pilot project research looking at capability requirements and occupational profiles of occupational trainers. The intention was to map the qualification on the OFO, with a core to enable transfer and progression.
The aim is to achieve a demand-driven, relevant and systemic approach to match personal development needs with that of the workplace and national economic imperatives. This intended to develop an efficient process of qualification development based on working groups. The knowledge components had been completed and the more contested area of practical/workplace components was being developed.
There was a very strong focus on analysis of training needs in the workplace, and a heavy emphasis on ‘in the workplace’, as well as a growing recognition of a modular approach to assemble competencies in an incremental way.
There are still outstanding issues. A key issue was the need for a common terminology, and this was evident in the current symposium as well. In addition statutory requirements, credits, notional hours and NQF level, assessment and articulation have to be attended to.
PEOPLE PRACTICES
Huma van Rensburgh, CEO of South African Board for People Practices (SABPP) said that the SABPP was interested and involved in these discussions as training often landed in the human resource field. Building professional practice and professionalism was thus a key element for the SABPP.
10 DERRICK PEO
MERSETA
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Professionalism requires mastery of a complex body of knowledge. Unfortunately, there was very little in the way of qualifications for trainers. Other elements of professionalism included ethics, autonomy and acceptance of duty to society.
Van Rensburgh argued that the impact of professionalisation meant that learning and development becomes a known quantity which brings recognition. It establishes a career path, raises accountability, lends credibility and status, and encourages individual aspirations.
As a professional body, the SABPP currently evaluates programmes and enforces CPD. As such SABPP acknowledged HR specializations in planning, recruitment and also learning and development since often training and development falls under the HR field.
Accordingly, in partnership with initiatives like the MERSETA one, SABPP was establishing a career path, with entry requirements of qualification and experience. There are currently 6 learning and development levels learning and development support trainer generalist L5, specialist trainer, L&D practitioner L7, Chartered L&D practitioner L8, Master L&D practitioner.
The pilot project has highlighted certain elements in the task of building professional practice around learning and development. These elements include that:
Human development is an organic process
Order operates though an alliance of institutions
Compartmentalisation
Human development defines standardization.
COLLEGE-WORKPLACE INTERACTION
Nazrene Suleman and Anthony Gewer, National Business Initiative (NBI), explored how colleges interacted with industry and argued that there was a need for strong evidence based support which could be lobbied in business. There are difficulties in aligning college-industry partnerships. Accordingly, the NBI was developing a research focus of transitions of students into labour market, staffing supply of engineering programmes to meet targets and tracking perceptions.
Gewer said that the relationship between the colleges and industry is not a simple, uncomplicated one. There are a number of broad strategic issues. Industry training has slumped, colleges are restricted, there are concerns about capacity of colleges to increase
11 HUMA VAN RENSBURGH
CEO: SA Board of People Practices
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enrolments, shifts in the NQF and concern about whether the colleges would be able to meet industry needs. This meant that the system could not accommodate large numbers of apprenticeships, and needed to build pathways for NCV learners, building the credibility of the NCV.
Nazrene Suleman reported that there had been interaction and projects between colleges and the mining and construction sectors for example. Suppositions about college-industry interaction needed to be tested at colleges. In the case of the construction partnership there were alignment issues, but the project arose out of need, from the skills shortage in the sector. The NBI worked with most of the NCV engineering campuses in construction and certain large construction companies.
In the project, industry began to understand that it could not develop curriculum. Industry therefore has invested in lecturer
development. The project found that the demand was high for training, and the programme had not been able to cope with the demand for lecturer training. There needed to be adequate opportunities for lecturers. Secondly the project found that it needed industry assistance with practical knowledge. It was important to have an industry specialist to do the training. Over 100 Lecturers attended the course during their holidays, which was a major personal commitment from their side. Practical challenges were that it does take a long time to train lecturers and adequate
time is needed, and that there was a need to scale up the programme to meet the demand from and for lecturers.
There were a number of indicative findings from the project. These included that:
-Industry expectations are for a
responsive curriculum
knowledgeable staff
-Challenges of working with industry
want immediate results
mismatch of expectations
matching best candidates with access
12 ANTHONY GEWER
National Business Initiative
13 NAZRENE SULEMAN
NBI
SYMPOSIUM REPORT 26
implications of legislation and policy and time to filter through system
industry poaches staff
-Key challenges of working with colleges
need industry buy-in
industry and colleges can engage, but it does take time, effort and money
companies are more comfortable with outside facilitative partners, but need this to become institutionalized.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
There was a concern that given the policy fragmentation of roles, whether there would be enough people to train all the different types of teachers/trainers/HR required in the system. Subject matter expertise was not enough, and there needed to be a dual mode including workplace exposure and expertise.
Another point concerned the requirement for intermediaries in college-industry partnerships. The NBI project experience had been that there was a desire to work together. It would probably be a facilitated process for a few years to come. Engagements have been at a local level, and not institutionalized. This could be a result of lack of leadership, capacity, cultural divides. A view was that partnerships did not happen in a vacuum, but in a programme that is conscious and in both parties’ interests.
A key discussion centred on what was meant by ‘industry’, for example who and what was being spoken about, as industry tended to be a ‘catch all’ description which might be inaccurate.
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6 WORKING GROUP DISCUSSIONS
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS OF DAY ONE
Fiona Cameron Brown summarized the key issues arising from the presentations on Day One:
The importance of the college sector and skills development was reiterated as the biggest priority for the ministry in the next five years.
Policy overview: The question of where to locate the colleges in relation to Umalusi and the overlap of levels 5 and 6 in the 3 frameworks.
The draft framework of lecturer qualifications will be out for public comment shortly. People should respond to this.
The QCTO curriculum model pointed to a focus on a demand driven occupational learning system, and the need to bring 3 discourses together. Occupational qualifications may stand alone or complement other. This model provided the possibility of linking credits and qualifications to designations and multiple learning pathways. There was a willingness to engage across sub-frameworks.
The HEQC showed willingness to engage in CATS, around the NQF 5 and 6.
The international perspectives from Denmark and Germany emphasized the importance of duality (i.e. learning alternating between work and learning institution) and included elements such as learning in the workplace, entry into teaching via industry, modularized provision and the ‘sandwich’ model of provision. But both countries had a long history of industry buy-in. The discussions emphasized that South Africa needed a cohort of lecturers who could deal with the problems now, and teacher education needed a phased approach to make this happen and to remain in the realm of the possible.
Higher education indicated a need to extend traditional teacher education to embrace vocational teacher education (VTE). Universities need to understand that college lecturer education would be broader than just teacher education faculties.
The issue of FET and FET college lecturer education needed to be understood within the context of the broader national remit of FET, which was often ignored or selectively
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applied. The implications of a shift from education for employment to pre-employment education needed to be taken on board.
HE needed to be involved in VTE out of self interest, as colleges would share the task of access to post school education. The interdisciplinary nature of vocational education and the multi-faceted skills required for a curriculum facing both ways. Concern that the focus is on the development of qualifications and frameworks with
The occupational trainer pilot indicated a need to resolve a common terminology. Through the pilot an attempt was being made to identify a generic core across the economic spectrum and to professionalise the training function. A career path needs to be developed, and the job can be dynamic with a broader role than just facilitating learning. There was a place for both discipline based and dual mode learning.
SABPP indicated that training resides within the HR function. There was a move toward the professionalisation of the development and learning functions, and the aspiration to have professional recognition of trainers. There were 6 levels of qualification for ‘learning and development practitioners’ where experience was weighted equally.
NBI indicated the challenges of managing industry and college partnerships. The challenge of partnerships existing without intermediaries such as NBI and SSACI was raised. The possibility of partnerships working without such intermediaries was not in evidence from these projects (though some evidence emerged from the working group discussions).
EMERGENT THEMES
Some of the emerging themes for FET college lecturer and occupational trainer development at this point of the conference were therefore:
training must be demand-led and based on current and future lecturer profiles
Dire need for research. There is some research in the college sector, but there is almost nothing in the public domain on industry trainers
There is a need for partnerships and integration: ET, industry, universities. And also the ministry and other stakeholders
A common terminology is needed
Articulation
Shared vision with buy in from all stakeholders
The implementation issue is critical.
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ISSUES RAISED
A concern was raised around why there were different qualifications for teacher education, vocational teacher education as well as for occupational trainers, thus providing the potential for dis-articulation between these qualifications, and obstacles to implementation.
One key discussion centred around the question of remits. The need to revisit the remit of colleges was emphasized as a starting point for discussions, as the NCV is not the only qualification in the sector. Similarly, the remit was critical for industry as well. In understanding the remit it needed to be flagged that college lecturers were teaching across a range of disciplines and student types, and occupational trainers also have a similar remit, that of training for employment. While the remit might be national at present, colleges have to act locally as well as nationally.
A key discussion centred on unpacking what was meant by “industry” as the term was used loosely and broadly. An attempt was made to consider a definition. The public sector was also a huge employer and the involvement of the SMME sector and of the union federations needed to be considered. The underlying distinction made in terms of occupational trainers and college lecturers appeared to be their institutional base.
COLLEGE LECTURER WORKING GROUP (CHAIRED BY PROF VOLKER WEDEKIND)
Some university and distance education partners were offerings courses aimed specifically at college lecturers. These included National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE) which was typically a two-year undergraduate first teaching qualification, continuing education/ short courses (CE courses), Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) which was a post graduate ‘capping’ teachers diploma and a Masters in Educational Leadership (MEd).
This was followed by a discussion on defining terminology around college lecturers and occupational trainers. After some discussion the group agreed that the distinction between occupational and vocational was not helpful in the context of teacher education. The distinction between FET college lecturers and occupational trainers was in their institutional base rather than necessarily in the kind of student that they taught. Instead the group argued that the work roles for both groups fell on a spectrum of learning for both groups within which individual needs would differ.
Five broad conclusions were elicited from the discussion and are expanded on below:
Faculties of education and other teacher education organisations could not ‘go it alone’ with vocational teacher education
Courses for vocational teachers could not be ‘glorified PGCEs’ or cosmetic adaptations of existing school teacher education courses
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The process needed to be a collective, inclusive process but one which recognized existing initiatives and the role that they played in advancing the vocational agenda.
There was an urgent need for short term measures to meet the immediate needs of college lecturers.
The VEOP and the higher certificate could not be stand alone measures, but needed to form part of a spectrum of interventions.
First, the group felt that whilst universities should play a key role in the development and delivery of vocational teacher education, it could not ‘go it alone’. It was critical for example for the FET college sector to be centrally involved. It was conceivable that VTE could be offered in or by the colleges themselves, and colleges certainly would be key partners in delivery. Universities were potentially only a site of learning. The group argued that it needed to be understood that vocational teacher education was wider than faculties of education, than universities, than individual universities and wider than the university sector in both the development and delivery of vocational teacher education.
Second, the group felt that, given the discussion, vocational teacher education courses should not just be ‘glorified PGCEs’ or some other teacher education course. Vocational teacher education courses needed to respond to a range of needs across academic, workplace and college teaching contexts. It also needed to respond to the spectrum of learning referred to above. One implication was that some commitment should be sought from colleges and workplaces in supporting this process, for example through placements. It was noted that the long term development issues needed to be separated out from the short term pressures, and that a fully fledged system would take time to develop.
Third, the group felt that the process of development should be collective and inclusive. This however raised practical concerns, given the number of stakeholders that it appeared would need to be involved. Moreover, it was felt that existing initiatives should not be stymied by waiting for final inclusion, as these individual initiatives created spaces and built momentum and should continue to do so. However there was a need for a mechanism to identify and pull these initiatives together appropriately.
Fourth, the group noted that full qualifications took time to develop, usually about two years within a public higher education institution. However the FET sector was confronted by immediate challenges, and the unfolding framework required short term responses and development. It was felt that in the short term there should be collaboration around materials development. It was noted that short courses were easier to register and develop for more immediate purposes, and the VEOP possibly provided an avenue within which to do this. This however would require a commitment from colleges, industry or the DHET to fund such courses as short courses did not attract formula funding. The wisdom of registering new qualifications was questioned, but without conclusion.
Fifth, the group felt that the short term should not overwhelm the longer term development, and that the VEOP and Higher Certificate should not be the “be all and end
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all” of the process and that the development of these did not “stand alone”. The group felt the need to develop a robust vocational teacher education system which catered for the multi-faceted needs of college lecturers and occupational trainers, and provided certificated learning pathways. These included higher degrees, continued professional development, work and college placements and other aspects that would develop. This point related back to the understanding of a (common) spectrum of learning for college lecturers and occupational trainers.
OCCUPATIONAL TRAINER WORKING GROUP (CHAIRED BY DEBORAH MACHARD)
At the outset, this group decided to focus the questions on Industry, University and workplace and then to come up with concrete suggestions as to what could be done.
Discussion
On Qualifications, their Portability & Progression:
The discussion then began by looking at what the criteria for trainers from industry would be. Policy issues such as minimum norms and standards to qualify as an educator was discussed, as well as the nature of the qualification and what it allowed one to do, e.g. if one had qualified as a school teacher, one could teach at a school. However if one qualified as a trainer, that did not allow one to teach in a school. Do training qualifications allow for mobility between the Vocational educator and the Occupational Trainer, and is this possible?
On Training Qualifications
Universities should be institutions that manage benchmarks for quality. There are many occupational trainer qualifications that are not being taken up. It was noted that in some industries there were no criteria for trainers. Questions around qualifications were noted and the need to place qualifications on the same/equivalent level. The need to consider issues around articulation and esteem between qualification for lecturers, trainers and educators was noted. While the quality of the qualification is important it is important to keep in mind that qualifications do not always signify competence. It was also argued that skills development should not be qualifications driven but driven by need, hence we should define the qualification that we want first.
On clarifying roles
A participant noted that there was a need to clarify roles, for example FET provision and industry requirements. Part of this clarification would include going back to the college remit and considering what the role of the lecturer is. We also need to look at the roles of the FET lecturer, the Vocational Educator and the Workplace trainer – are there differences between these and how can their roles be harmonized? In the light of the impending OFO, what does the trainer do in the workplace? As the OFO is concerned with skills, modularization will be important as well as the role of the trainer in this new set-up.
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On experience
A participant said that a trainer in a technical occupation must have experience. For example, an apprentice learns from an artisan therefore at FET level theory must be linked to practice. When considering the curriculum for trainers we have to take into account that the modalities of delivering course content by vocational lecturers and trainers are different. Learning through observation is often context bound.
Industry as client
A participant questioned whether the OETD qualification had addressed industry needs. If not, this could indicate the need for a new qualification. Trainers need the ability to facilitate learning. Attention has to be given to the technologies needed to skill trainers and look at how the workshop /workplace could be improved.
Recommendations
FET lecturers/colleges need to turn out people who are trainable and industry must therefore engage colleges. Also FET colleges also needed to produce people who are life long learners and have generic skills. Hence the training of lecturers must incorporate these requirements of industry with regard to the kind of learners that colleges, through their FET lecturers, produce. Industry is therefore keen to assist and provide input where necessary.
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7 WAY FORWARD
In the final plenary session, a number of practical steps were suggested in order to take some of the discussions forward:
1. Ken Duncan raised the importance of industry responding to the draft framework of lecturer qualifications.
2. Successful industry engagements exist with colleges. SSACI would be willing to host a forum/postbox for gathering this information [email protected]
3. The two initiatives on qualifications development currently being driven by Peliwe Lolwana and FETI respectively will continue to run concurrently and keep interested parties in the loop.
4. ETDP SETA will convene a meeting for the FET colleges sector to discuss ETDP qualifications in the light of the draft framework.
5. All slide presentations will be sent to participants as well as a conference proceedings report.
Ford Foundation, Swiss-South African Collaboration Initiative and MERSETA
Guest speakers: Werner Heitmann and Susanne Gottlieb for sharing their models and systems information.
Speakers and Session Chairs: Rolf Stumpf, Aruna Singh, Chris Vorwerk, Pelilwe Lolwana, John Pampallis, Martin Mulcahy, Volker Wedekind, Derrick Peo, Debbie Machard, Ken Duncan and Rolf Stumpf, Derrick Peo, Nazrene Suleiman, Anthony Gewer, and Huma van Rensburg.
FETI staff especially Lydia Boonzaaier for the logistics and Seamus Needham for putting together the initial strategy document and for conceptualizing and driving the event.
Fiona Cameron Brown for her assistance and support in coordinating the event.
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DELEGATE LIST
TITLE NAME INSTITUTION
Dr Joy Papier FETI: Director
Mr Seamus Needham FETI: Research & Planning Manager
Mr Tim McBride FETI
Ms Lydia Boonzaaier FETI
Mr Nigel Prinsloo FETI
Ms Fiona Cameron-Brown FETI: FC Consulting
Mr Ken Duncan SSACI
Ms Deborah Machard GTZ Technical Team/QCTO
Mr Chris Vorwerk GTZ Technical Team/QCTO
Mr Martin Mulcahy Nat DoE
Prof Rolf Stumpf
Mr Derek Peo General Manager, Projects: MerSETA
Prof Volker Wedekind Uni-KZN
Mr Werner Heitmann Director: ESDS Programme - GTZ (Pretoria)
Prof Peliwe Lolwana University of the Witwatersrand
Dr Susanne Gottlieb DEL – Denmark
Ms Huma van Rensburg CEO: South African Board for Personnel Practices – SABPP
