White Paper For Post School Education And Training

The WP-PSET enunciates: “National economic development has been prioritised, and the role of education and training as a contributor to development has begun to receive much attention. This is not to devalue the intrinsic importance of education.

Quality education is an important right, which plays a vital role in relation to a person’s health, quality of life, self-esteem, and the ability of citizens to be actively engaged and empowered. However, few can argue with the need to improve the performance of the economy, to expand employment and to equip people to achieve sustainable livelihoods.

This means improving partnerships, developing effective and well understood vocational learning and occupational pathways, and improving the quality of the learning and work experiences along those pathways.

Understanding the Skills Needs

In this regard, a multi-tiered approach is proposed:

1. Firstly, determining skills at organisational level, understanding skills needs at the workplace, both in public and private sectors;
2. Secondly, determining skills at sectoral level of occupations in high demand and priority occupations; and
3. Thirdly, determining skills at national level which includes provincial and local levels of occupations in high demand and priority occupations.

Some of these tiers are already in place, requiring improvements from time to time, such as through Workplace Skills Plans (WSPs) and Sector Skills Plans (SSPs) developed by the SETAs. It is the role of the SETAs to analyse the WSPs when they prepare and consult on their SSPs.

The Role of SETAs on the Demand and Supply Side

On the demand side:

• Conduct labour market research and develop Sector Skills Plans (SSP);
• Develop Strategic Plans (SP), Annual Performance Plans (APP) and Service Level Agreements (SLA); and submit quarterly reports.

On the supply side:

• Address sector skills needs and priorities;
• Address scarce and critical skills (PIVOTAL) through implementation of learning programmes (i.e. Artisans and Learnerships);
• Facilitate easy access and different entry points (Articulation and RPL); and
• To collaborate with the relevant Quality Council, especially the Quality Council for Trade and Occupations to ensure quality and provision of learning programmes.