Converting Asset Holdings into Livelihood: An Empirical Study on the Role of Household Agency in South Africa

Lombard

2016

Int Rev Educ

Non-formal education and training (NFET) programmes in public and private centres in South Africa aim to meet the training needs of adults who have been deprived of formal education which would have fostered skills acquisition and access to employment earlier in their lives. The concern which informs this paper is that adults who face long-term unemployment due to a lack of marketable skills often remain unemployed after completing NFET programmes. The paper assesses the extent to which material and human resources have affected skills acquisition and graduate employment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The results show that material and human resource challenges in most public and some private centres have led to gaps in skills training. Programmes focus too strongly on academic credits and certificates and not enough on employment as an end goal. The authors argue that the existence of suitable training materials and qualified trainers with practical experience and specific technical skills constitutes favourable conditions (''enabling environments'') for graduate employment. Without improvement in material and human resources, adult trainees will continue to experience difficulties integrating into the labour market, and the cycle of poverty and social exclusion will remain unbroken.Résumé L'importance des moyens matériels et de formateurs qualifiés dans les centres d'éducation et de formation non formelles des adultes en Afrique du SudLes programmes d'éducation et de formation non formelles des adultes réalisés dans des centres publics et privés en Afrique du Sud visent à répondre aux besoins en formation des adultes qui ont été privés de l'éducation formelle. Cette dernière les aurait aidés plus tôt dans leur vie à acquérir des compétences et à accéder à un emploi. La question au coeur du présent article est que les adultes confrontés à un chômage de longue durée par manque de compétences monnayables demeurent souvent sans emploi après avoir accompli un programme de ce type. Les auteurs évaluent dans quelle mesure les ressources humaines et matérielles influent sur l'acquisition des compétences et sur l'emploi des certifiés sortants à KwaZulu-Natal (Afrique du Sud). Les résultats montrent que les défis inhérents aux ressources humaines et matérielles existant dans la majorité des centres publics et certains centres privés engendrent des lacunes dans la formation professionnelle. Les programmes sont trop axés sur les crédits académiques et les certificats, et insuffisamment sur l'emploi en tant que fin en soi. Les auteurs concluent que des moyens matériels appropriés et des formateurs qualifiés, dotés d'une expérience pratique et de savoir-faire techniques spécifiques, sont les conditions favorables (les « environnements propices ») à l'embauche des stagiaires certifiés. Sans une optimisation des ressources humaines et matérielles, ces derniers continueront à rencontrer des difficultés à intégrer le marché du travail, et le cercle vicieux de la pauvreté et de l'exclusion sociale ne pourra être rompu.

Section: Theoretical Framework For Internal Enabling Of Nfet Environmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The importance of material resources and qualified trainers in adult non-formal education and training centres in South Africa

Lombard

2016

Int Rev Educ

“…However, poverty due to unemployment among non-educated and unskilled adults has increased more than was expected in the post-apartheid period (Anderson 2012;May 2010). To redress the historical lack of education and training and promote lifelong learning, the South African government legislated NFET through the Adult Education and Training (AET) Act 25 of 2010 (RSA 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research has addressed several aspects of NFET, including the examination of the relevance of NFET for income generation (Islam et al 2012;Blaak et al 2012); acquisition of practical skills (Georgiadou et al 2009;Islam et al 2012); socioeconomic empowerment of adults who are poor (Morton and Montgomery 2011;Akpama et al 2011); the ineffectiveness of NFET; and skills mismatch in terms of supply and demand on the labour market (Morton and Montgomery 2011;Anderson 2012). Research has shown that NFET centres and their adult trainees continue to experience challenges due to the insufficiency of enabling environments (DHET 2012;Aitchison 2007;Blaak et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How useful are skills acquired at adult non-formal education and training centres for finding employment in South Africa?

Lombard

2015

Int Rev Educ

Non-formal adult education and training (NFET) in South Africa is instrumental in breaking the high level of poverty and decreasing the social inequality the country continues to face as a post-apartheid democracy. Public and private NFET centres in South Africa aim to meet the training needs of adults who have been deprived of formal education with courses which foster access to opportunities for skills acquisition and employment and bring about social and economic inclusion. However, many adults who were facing long-term unemployment due to a lack of marketable skills remain unemployed after completing NFET programmes. This paper reports on a study which investigated what constitutes favourable conditions ("internal enabling environments") for skills acquisition inside NFET centres leading to employment and how they can be improved to contribute to coordinated efforts of increasing NFET graduates' paid and/or self-employment capacities. The authors found that centres focusing on activities suitable for self-employment during training were more likely to create internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and income generation than centres offering courses designed for entering paid employment. The authors conclude that there appears to be a significant correlation between NFET centres' training programme objectives, financial resources, trainee selection criteria, the process of training needs assessment, and skills acquisition for successful employment outcomes of NFET graduates. Without these internal enabling factors, adult trainees are likely to continue finding it difficult to integrate into the labour market or participate in economic activities and hence break the cycle of poverty and social exclusion. KeywordsNon-formal education and training Skills acquisition Training needs assessment Internal enabling environments Adult education Human capital theory South Africa RésuméLes compétences acquises dans les centres d'éducation et de formation non formelles des adultes aident-elles à trouver un emploi en Afrique du Sud ? -L'éducation et la formation non formelles des adultes jouent en Afrique du Sud un rôle important pour baisser sensiblement le taux élevé de pauvreté et réduire les inégalités sociales, auxquels cette démocratie post-apartheid est encore confrontée. Les centres publics et privés d'éducation et 2 de formation non formelles des adultes visent dans le pays à répondre aux besoins éducatifs des adultes qui n'ont pas été scolarisés, par des mesures qui leur ouvrent l'accès à l'acquisition de compétences et à l'emploi et favorisent leur intégration sociale et économique. Néanmoins, de nombreux adultes qui étaient chômeurs de longue durée par manque de compétences monnayables demeurent sans emploi après avoir accompli un programme dans ces centres. Cet article présente une étude sur la nature des conditions favorables (les « environnements internes propices ») pour acquérir dans ces centres des compétences qui débouchent sur un emploi, et sur les moyens de les renforcer pour cont...

“…Adults are active labour force participants, but their entry into labour markets is hindered by a lack of education and skills impediments (World Bank, 2004). In South Africa particularly, a lack of education and training among poor adults is a significant contributor to unemployment and poverty (Anderson, 2012). This is due to absolute poverty caused by limited employable skills among adults on the one hand and on the other the lack of employment opportunities in the KwaZulu-Natal province where the study was conducted (Soobramoney, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling labour market entry for adults through non-formal education and training for employment in South Africa

International Journal of Lifelong Education

2016

Adult non-formal education and training (NFET) in South Africa was adopted in 1990 to address the problem of unemployment of non-educated and unskilled adults. Public and private NFET centres aim to meet the training needs of adults who were deprived of formal education that would foster access to opportunities for employment. The paper reports on a study conducted to investigate what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment. The paper focuses on the approach of training delivery fostering labour market entry of graduates. The findings show that individual trainees who participated in private centres had a higher probability of being employed because of the creation of internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and focus on income-generating activities. The authors conclude that an integration of technical skills with business skills and 'learning by earning' is a potential training delivery approach enabling graduates to participate in economic activities.