PRESENTATION TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION
REPORT ON ASSESSMENT OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING AUTHORITY’S
CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS AND CAREER PROGRESSION PROSPECTS IN
THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Date: 14 APRIL 2010
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OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENTATION
Introduction
Objectives of the study
Research methodology
Findings
Recommendations and Conclusion
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INTRODUCTION
• Skills development is considered to be of importance in Public Service labour relations in South Africa
• The Public Service Education and Training Authority (PSETA) is one of the institutions established to facilitate the improvement of skills, and to advance the competence of employees in the Public Service
• The PSC identified the need to evaluate the PSETA to determine its contribution to the development of skills and career progression of employees in the Public Service
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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objective of the study are the following: -
• To establish the extent to which Public Service employees have benefited from training and skills development facilitated by the PSETA.
• To establish the extent to which persons provided with learnerships through the PSETA have been employed by the Public Service.
• To establish the impact of training and skills development facilitated by the PSETA on the career progression of Public Service.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGYThe methodology followed for the study included the following –
•desktop research and literature review, specifically annual reports of various SETAs, as well as reports of the PSC, DoL, PALAMA and DPSA on SETAs and published papers on training and SETAs
•two sets of questionnaires were designed and used during interviews as follows –
o general questionnaire was used for selected officials in a sample of service provider institutions and other SETAs
o Semi structured questionnaire used for beneficiaries of training facilitated by PSETA and officials of respondent institutions departments (OPSC, Presidency; Department of Labour; DPSA; Offices of the Premiers in Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West)
•responses to the questionnaires and information gathered from face to face interviews were analysed
•a focus group discussion was held with officials from Offices of the Premiers at a workshop and conclusions reached in this focus group discussion were collated
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FINDINGS
Between 2004 and 2006 PSETA was on a learning curve and concentrated more on the compliance in the submission of Work Skills Plans and Annual Training Reports by department, legislatures and other public service institutions
During this period attention was not given to facilitation of training, monitoring and tracking of learners’ after they had underwent learnership and training programmes
The assessment by the Department of Labour on the PSETA’s performance in terms of the objectives of the National Skills Development Strategy II between 2005 and 2008 showed varied progress as indicated in the figure that follows on the next slide
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FINDINGS CONTINUEDThe PSETA’s performance trend in the figure above means the following –
•In 2005 no service provider institutions were recognised as Institutes of Sectoral and/or Occupational Excellence (ISOE) but from 2006 to 2008 100% was achieved
•PSETA did not reach the 70% target of finding placement for learners in all the years under review
•In 2006/07 the target for learners in critical skills was exceeded and stood at 628% but 0% was reported in 2005 and 2008
•In 2008 the target of 50% of learners who completed programmes was exceeded and stood at 195% and in the preceding years 0% was reported
•The target of unemployed people assisted to enter programmes stood at 100% in 2005 but declined to 11% in 2006/07 and increased to 54% in 2008
•From 2005 to 2007 the 50% target of successful completion of learnerships and apprenticeship stood at 0% and in 2008 increased to 176%
•Workers across all ABET levels who completed training stood at 16% in 2005, then declined to 0% in 2006/07 and slightly increased to 12% in 2008
•Training of workers across all ABET levels stood at 0% in 2005 then increased to 156% in 2006/07 and saw a decline to 40% recorded in 2008
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FINDINGS CONTINUED•The PSETA’s performance in regard to training and education facilitation
improved gradually. From 2007 to 2008 more than 140 departments plus ten legislatures and 15 parastatals were provided with this service
•Despite having only four out of a staff complement of 13 in the Skills Planning Unit, this Unit’s processes improved steadily, in that departmental HR units were capacitated to submit Work Skills Plans and Annual Training Reports as required to the PSETA
•The relationship between PSETA and service providers was facilitated by the Learnership Unit and it covers learner benefits, competency achievement, learner composition, completion rate and career progression
•The following results concerning the period 200/08 were gathered –o Of the 3755 learnership enrolment, 2485 were workers and from the total
number 1467 completed the learnership and 1535 certificates were issuedo The Education and training sector performed far better than other SETAs in
the figure that follows due to the nature and totals of those employed in the sector, however, it had lower certificates issued compared to PSETA
o The following figure shows the total numbers achieved in the five SETAs as compared to PSETA which recorded achievement for all the indicators
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FINDINGS CONTINUED
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FINDINGS CONTINUED
• The PSETA’s competence achievement rating recorded with regard to the pilot programme on Public Finance Management learnership in five provinces that participated during the 2005/06 was as follows:
o In the Eastern Cape only 53% (368 out of 691) of learners who had completed the programme and were assessed, achieved the relevant competence
o In the Northern Cape, only 50% (299 out of 691) were successfully assessed and had the appropriate competence
o While in Mpumalanga 69% (213 out of 307 ) of learners were assessed and found to have relevant competence
o The figure for North West of successful competence after assessment stood at 52% (391 out of 740)
o In KwaZulu-Natal a high rate of 70% (117 out of 165) was achieved for learners assessed who had the relevant competence at the end
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FINDINGS CONTINUED• The following was provided by an official from a province that participated in
the pilot Public Finance Management learnership as contributing to low level of competence rate –o The process of implementing the learnership was facilitated and
coordinated by PSETA including recruitment and selection of service provider, their accreditation, monitoring and, follow-up as well as assessment. That resulted in the following –
assessment took six months to complete certification was only done more than one year after completion of the pilot o One service provider was contracted by PSETA for all provinces. It emerged
that the service provider lacked capacity to manage the programme. As such this development stretched PSETA to an extent that actual training was not monitored, in the end quality assurance was not properly done
o Programme implementation was flawed in that unemployed learners were not placed in finance operating positions or if they were in finance positions they were not tasked to operate in finance roles but made photocopies and served as transport clerks, messenger or other unrelated tasks
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FINDINGS CONTINUED• The PSC established from the 75 telephonic interviews conducted with
beneficiaries who participated in PSETA’s Human Resources, Financial Accounting, Project Management and Business Administration learnership programmes that at the time of entry into the learnership –
o 54% of these learners were unemployedo 46% were employed • The completion rate for the same 75 participants of the learnership
programmes was as follows –o 89% completed the respective learnership programmeso 11 did not complete the respective learnership programmes
• Career progression of learners who took part in this learnership programmes was as follows –
o 76% employed by departments (this indicates shows commitment) o 15% remained unemployed ( there was no promise of jobs post training)o 2% self-employed (small sewing enterprise)o 2% changed employment since training (took employment positions at
Vodacom, Makro, TB clinic and NGO)
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FINDINGS CONTINUED• The Education and Training Quality Assurance Unit in PSETA deals with
accreditation of qualification and processes registration of the service providers. This Unit was regarded as being slow due to lack of capacity
• Regardless of the challenges of capacity, the effectiveness of PSETA was established in the following areas – o able to produce reports in respect of Sector SDP and Work Skills Plans in
compliance with the DoL requirements and the Annual training reportso improved provision of capacity building support for the national and
provincial departments with legislatures and parastatals also provide toolso improved interaction with employer stakeholders encouraging employers to
use PSETA and line sector registered learnerships o PSETA accredited 23 training providers, 8 academies and introduced
evaluators to assess learning programmes submitted to PSETA for approvalo employment of learners after completion was commended by EC, Gauteng,
NW and Mpumalanga with latter keeping record on learners o successes - employment of people with disability at OPSC, PALAMA uses
PSETA accredited programmes, a cleaner in GP advanced to be Clerk
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The following are the findings in respect of the Governance structure of PSETA –
•Majority of respondents plus PSETA’s senior managers considered the board as weak / dysfunctional / uncommitted. No feedback was obtained from current board members due to unavailability despite requests made
•The view of acting CEO was that board was functional but poor participation could be attributed to disagreement regarding financial and operational matters
•Other factors brought forth during interviews and from reports are as follows –o perception of micro-management of PSETA’s HR by DPSAo PSETA’s helm unsteady with seven Acting CEOs in four yearso PSETA not regarded as autonomous as board members are hardly available to
provide strategic direction o perceptions of interference by DPSA in PSETA’s management are regarded as
the sources of tension between the board and DPSA and management and the board
FINDINGS CONTINUED
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FINDINGS CONTINUED The following are the findings in respect of the Organisational Structure of PSETA and management –
•PSETA has been a directorate or programme within DPSA and the DG: DPSA had powers to approve policies and strategic decisions of PSETA
•CEO of PSETA is the main authority in management and reports to the following –
o the PSETA board on policy and strategic issues, o DG: DPSA on operational issues o DoL on programme performance• Some of the Acting CEOs were DPSA employees seconded to PSETA• At the time of the study PSETA had 19 employees (all seconded from
DPSA) out of ideal and required 50. o Four at SMS level o Six are managerso Nine are at Admin level
• The low number impacts negatively on the degree of execution of the tasks in Public Service employees’ skills development and progression
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RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION• PSETA should be an independent entity and that it should be formally
institutionalised to be PFMA schedule 3A entity and appropriate policies and procedures should be introduced in line with PFMA
• As a follow up to being independent, the governance structure of PSETA (specifically the board) should include private sector as a % of PSETA’s programme beneficiaries get employed in the private sector
• Consideration of the Organisational and Management Structure of PSETA is recommended as follows –o PSETA board should be final decision maker and the CEO should
report to the board on all matters which will report to the Ministero CEO’s position should be filled by an employee on the basis of a well
defined agreement , taking into account lessons learnt from appointment CEO in 2005/06
o A structured approach should be undertaken for all members of staff who have been seconded from DPSA to consider and decide if they would like to go back to DPSA or be incorporated into new PSETA
o Suitably qualified employees should be recruited and appointed to vacant posts within three months after PSETA had become a PFMA schedule 3A entity
• Branding of PSETA should be considered through consultative process once it has been transformed to be independent
• Programme performance and reporting structure of PSETA–o PSETA’s should develop framework for reporting procedure which
other SETAs should adapt and adopt to avoid inconsistencyo Consideration of outsourcing some of key functions like assessment
of programmes, training of SDF, accreditation of providerso Facilitation of employment of learners and precedent of Mpumalanga
may be considered where HRD in OTP facilitates all processeso PSETA’s Service Delivery Committee should be reconstituted once
PSETA has been modifiedo Creation of a function for management of stakeholders
RECOMMENDATIONS CONTINUED
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THANK YOU!
