VTSD SKILLS DEVELOPMENT LEKGOTLA

POST-SCHOOL LEARNING: ENTREPRENEURSHIP & JOBS FOR VTSD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

TJ MOKGORO

6-8 SEPTEMBER 2017

INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

• The NW govt is anxious to determine the education & skills required to enhance radical socio-economic transformation & inclusive economic growth

• Structural mismatch between labour demand & supply as the economy & labour market shows demand for high skilled workers

• Economic growth very low & youth unemployment a hugely intractable challenge

• Two-pronged approach to economic growth:– Global competitiveness & high skills

– Local demand & low-skill base

NEET CHALLENGE

• 585610 youth (15-34) – total youth population in the province is 1,314m are not formally employed nor in education (NEET)

• Effective school-to-work transition is critical in both developed and developing countries

• NEET is particularly severe in the BB as is the second highest among the provinces

NEET CHALLENGE

• The failure to integrate so many people into the labour market threatens stability

• Another concern is the over-representation of blacks in the NEET population

• TVETs should ready themselves to respond to this challenge, by providing practical training linked to the prospect of a job, thus smoothing the transition from school to work

REST OF PRESENTATION

• Socio-economic data on BB

• Skills development: a national picture– Poor skills need data– Quality of education– Access to & availability of life-long learning opportunities– Coordination between stakeholders– Lack of or poor implementation of policies

• Conclusion

• Recommendations– NEET challenge– Entrepreneurship– Learning for jobs

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA

PRIORITY SECTORS

• ACT– Agriculture– Culture– Tourism

• Tributary– Mining

• Catalysts– Construction,

– Engineering (Water,Roads) & Other Engineering fields;

– Accounting/Commerce

– Health

– Education

– ICT

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT/UNEMPLOYMENT(NATIONAL)

Number of young people 20million

Young people in employment 6.3 million

Employment rate for young people 31%

Young people in workforce (expended): only those in jobs or actively looking for work

10 million

Narrow employment rate 37%

Young people in workforce (expanded): only those in jobs, actively looking for work or discouraged from looking for work

12.1 million

Expanded unemployment rate 48%

Number of young people in educational institutions 6.2 million

Number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs)

7.5 million

% of NEETs in young population 37%

Source: CDE 2017

BB SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA

• Population: 3,84m

• 36% of population 15-34 years: 1.38m

• 3rd largest net receiver of migration

• Contribution to national economy: 6,5% (3rd

lowest)

• Economic growth rate in 2015: 4,9% against national rate of 1,3%

• Mining dominant at 29,8% GDPR

• Community & Social Services largest employer

BB SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA

• Employment profile shifted towards low skilled employment between 2009 & 2015, with lower % in skilled employment

• Unemployment rates generally higher than that of SA & dipped below SA average in Q1 2017

• Transforming from unemployment is linked to educational levels

• At age 21 more learners in secondary school than University & TVET combined

BB SOCIO-ECONMIC DATA

• BB only has 4.4% of individuals with post-secondary education

• BB unemployment increased by 0,7% between Q1 & Q2 2017 to 27,2%

• BB has generally had unemployment rates above SA as a whole over last 9 years

• BB NEET rate 36,7% (2nd highest)

• NEET is 3rd highest (15%) contributor to poverty

Agriculture

Mining

Manufacturing

Construction

Trade

Finance

Community and social services

Private households

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Jan-Mar 2008 Jan-Mar 2009 Jan-Mar 2010 Jan-Mar 2011 Jan-Mar 2012 Jan-Mar 2013 Jan-Mar 2014 Jan-Mar 2015 Jan-Mar 2016 Jan-Mar 2017

Community and Social Service have shown gains relative to other industries over the last 9 years

Source: QLFS Q1 2017

Employed by industry in the NW

BASIC FOOD SECURITY NEEDS

1. Vegetables2. Fruit3. Mealie meal4. Bread5. Meat 6. Sunflower oil7. Eggs8. Milk9. Honey10. Energy

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: CURRENT NATIONAL PICTURE

INTRODUCTION

• Areas key to skills development highlighted:

– Poor skills need data

– Quality of education

– Access to & availability of life-long learning opportunities

– Coordination between stakeholders

– Lack of or poor implementation of policies

POOR QUALITY & LIMITED USE OF SKILL NEEDS DATA

CHALLENGES

• Differences between SETAs in methodologies to determine shortages in their sectors too wide

• Quality of shortage assessments depend on data analysis capacity of SETAs

• SETA need to understand longer-term trends in their respective sectors – do they?

• Concern over big differences in SETA performance• Thus wide differences in quality of skills assessment

outcomes• DHET provides capacity building to SETAs – is this

effective?

CHALLENGES

• To quality assure SSPs, DHET reviews the draft plans of SETAs- Is this effective?

• SETA role in skills planning restricted to data collection & data analysis entrusted to a national central body-can we have direct access to them?

• SSPs quality depends not only on SETAs but also on data used

• SSP relies on data provided by employers in their WSPs & annual training reports (ATR)

• But many employers don’t submit SSPs & ATRs• Thus, data used to assess shortages not representative

CHALLENGES

• Data also of low quality, employers tend to see WSPs as compliance

• SETAs often lack capacity to assess quality of submissions • Only a limited employers analyse & evaluate their skills

needs on regular basis• Whereas critical skills lists of SETAs are mainly for internal

use, DHET’s list of occupations in high demand, aims to be a tool for policy makers

• While DHET list focuses at national, information at provincial level is unavailable

• Yet economic & labour market differences across provinces are vast

PROPOSALS FOR PRESENTATIONS, DISCUSSIONS & RESOLUTIONS

• How can SETAs capacity development be assisted?• What is the capability & possibility of centralised skills

needs assessment?• How can WSPs be improved & made relevant &

meaningful? What can we learn from NW exercise?• How can employer information be improved?• Are HODs in NW aware of the list of occupations in high

demand, if so do they sue them• How can HODs be assisted to turn WSPs into strategic tools

& not mere compliance?• What skills do we need in BB in next 5 yrs; how many

graduates; in which fields; at what cost?

QUALITY OF EDUCATION

CHALLENGES

• Employers complain of lack of workplace training

• Employers view vocational graduates as lacking in workplace skills & experience

• Generally low availability of workplace training places for learnerships

• Share of tertiary graduates low, high drop out rates at higher education

PROPOSALS FOR PRESENTATIONS, DISCUSSIONS & RESOLUTIONS

• Basic education: NW to elaborate on how the following can be achieved:– Make teaching attractive– Improve teacher training quality– Provide tailored career advice early in the school

system to reduce drop out– Develop clear pathways to vocational & occupational

programmes after grade 9– Ensure sufficient & effective government spending on

education assure quality of education through regular school & class inspections, including teacher evaluation

PROPOSALS FOR PRESENTATIONS, DISCUSSIONS & RESOLUTIONS

• Further & higher education- how can NW govt work with NWU to achieve?:

– Provide sufficient financial support, eg KYT

– Tertiary institutions to provide bridging programs to 1st years to increase foundational skills

– Better align vocational education system to practices & needs in the workplace

– Teachers to be involved in continuous training to respond to local needs, eg VTSD economy

– Employers to be involved in all TVET value chain steps

– Vocational programs not to be too specific- enhance access to wider employment opportunities

– Employers to provide more workplace training opportunities for TVET students

– PMEI outcomes of different education paths

ACCESS TO & AVAILABILITY OF LIFELONG LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

CHALLENGES

• Skills development levy system excludes very small firms & informal employers

• Due to admin burden many firms don’t access this funding

• This system thus limited employees of large firms

• RPL not used optimally

• Workers generally not away of RPL potential benefits

CHALLENGES

• RPL requires certain level of literacy & thus excludes many workers

• Many training policies target people in employment & overlook unemployed

• NSF lacks clear focus on the unemployed

• No rules governing how SETAs could train the unemployed

• EPWP has limited training component

PROPOSALS FOR PRESENTATIONS, DISCUSSIONS & RESOLUTIONS

• How can small firms be supported to access training under skills development levy system?

• How can PIVOTAL training be made more flexible to enable employers to access training to suit their needs?

• What interventions could be considered to promote use of RPL among employees & employers, as well as unemployed

• What programs could be implemented to scale up training of the unemployed?

• How can NW prevail on SETAs & NSF to allocate sufficient resources to the unemployed?

• How can NW influence Community College plan to benefit its citizens

• How can NSF be made more transparent & its funding projects focused on development of critical skills?

CO-ORDINATION BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS

CHALLENGES

• Poor interdepartmental, inter-organisational coordination & coordination between spheres

• Policy makers not informed on developments at employer-level• Employers complain that they are not sufficiently involved in policy

development• Inadequate/no co-operation between employers & training

providers• Inadequate communication between employees & employers on

skills needs• No clear strategies on skills development implementation• Stakeholder participation in skills development inadequate• Changes in political admin tends to result in skill development

policy changes

PROPOSALS FOR PRESENTATIONS, DISCUSSIONS & RESOLUTIONS

• How can co-operation across government depts& institutions be improved?

• How should employers be encouraged to have voice in skills policy matters?

• How can relationship between employers & training providers be improved?

• How can measurable targets be set & PMEI in training strategic documents?

• How can skills development policies transcend political cycle?

CONCLUSION

• A number of key areas in skills development have been identified• An area that is of major concern is clarity on skills needs & supply

information• An issue requiring urgent attention is mismatch between the two• Challenges identified need comment by HRD units & HODs before

lekgotla• We need to work with STATSSA to get data & info on NW economy,

skills levels & unemployment• Skills development should be elevated to strategic leadership level

& not treated as an operational compliance issue • This lekgotla is not about skills development in the PS only, it is

about the entire economy, with focus on VTSD areas

RECOMMENDATIONS

THE NEET CHALLENGE

• DHET 12 planned TVET colleges to absorb NEETs• But given the challenges of quality, throughput &

affordability trying to increase the higher education system may not yield much results

• Many of these young people are unlikely to return to the education system, & more will drop out

• Public sector employment. But employment in this sector is already too high

• EPWP linked to training in practical skills such as small-scale agriculture

THE NEET CHALLENGE

• Youth entrepreneurship promotion. But most unemployed have had very poor education, come from poor backgrounds

• Many successful entrepreneurs have worked in industry before venturing into business

• Focused programs linked to agriculture food security, similar to Thusano Foundation pre-1994

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Schools and teachers should invest more on curriculum and activities that can foster entrepreneurship and innovations;

• Refocus their methods of teaching towards practical engagements and discovery techniques, reinvigorate research culture especially at tertiary level, and

• Emphasise lateral thinking that would make students replicate best practice and transfer of learning to doing wherever they find themselves in life

• TVETs should initiate regular visits to small and medium scale enterprises to give students mentoring education in their areas of specialisation

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Encourage students to go on field trips and network through the media on how to access microcredit facilities

• Engage students into collaborative effort between TVETs and some government institutions

• Expose students to some activities and learning tools used inside and outside the classroom

• Call for more action-orientation in entrepreneurship education

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• TVETs should establish an appropriate culture that encourages students to create and share knowledge within the school

• Kenya has a well established system of involving enterprises in establishing the content of training, which makes it possible to train young people more effectively for the workplace

• Government should provide a clear road map for various levels of education to enhance a better understanding of the entrepreneurship programme

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• The identified basic entrepreneurial skills should be introduced into the entrepreneurship education curriculum to prepare students for self-employment

• TVET lecturers should adapt to changes by making themselves available for training and re-training on the basics of entrepreneurship education

• Government should periodically organise sensitization workshops for teachers on the relevance of entrepreneurship education in schools

• Government should make it mandatory for institutions to implement entrepreneurship education in all programmes as a pre-requisite for programme accreditation

LEARNING FOR JOBS

• Ensure that provision at TVETs responds to employer needs• Involve employers in design & delivery of TVET programs• link vocational provision more closely with needs of

industry:– Make workplace learning mandatory for vocational programmes– Coordinate vocational provision through a strategic body that

would also involve industry stakeholders– While maintaining a national curriculum, establish flexibility in a

proportion of the curriculum that can be adapted by training providers to meet local needs

– Invest in better data, particularly on labour market outcomes linked to career guidance

REFERENCES

1. DHET & Labour Market Intelligence Partnership 2016 “Skills Supply and Demand in South Africa” Pretoria

2. OECD 2010 Learning for Jobs

3. OECD 2017 Get Skills Right

4. OECD 2014 A Skills Beyond Review, South Africa

5. Simiyu J 2010 UNESCO “Entrepreneurship Education as a Tool to Support Self Employment in Kenya UNIVOC

REFERENCES

1. Edmond A, et al 2014 “Strategies for Revitalizing the Implementation of Entrepreneurship Education in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to Enhance Self-Employment in Nigeria”, Brtish Journal of Education, vol 2, No 4, pp50-62

2. Bernstein A 2017 “Millions of Unemployed Youths Need Sweeping Structural Transformation, Business Day, 17 august 2017

3. Nocoliades A 2011 “Entrepreneurship – the Role of Higher Education in SA” Educational Research, vol 2(4), pp 1043-1050

4. Njenga K 2015 “Entrepreneurial Programme for Graduates: Case Study of United States International University-Africa”

5. Stats SA 2017 “Planning for the Future” Presentation to NWPG EXCO Lekgotla, 10 August 2017