“Study the past if you would define the future”
(Confucius, teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, 551-479 BC)
Introduction
The purpose of my report is to analyze and evaluate challenges in the Future of Work and Learning in 2015 and recommends actions to improve workplace learning by 2015.
Education in any country or generation is determined by the past and the present. The country of Apartheid South Africa is very different from the democratic country in which South Africans now live, and the future is going to be greatly affected by this transition. In the first decade of democracy, the advances education and training provision made were driven by issues of access, redress and equity at all levels of the system. While educationists in South Africa acknowledge the need to look to the future, there is awareness that many of the consequences of the past have not yet been resolved. The schooling system has undergone a major transformation to reflect the political and societal changes in South Africa but is struggling to produce quality education.
Analysis
A key feature that suggests a positive approach to schooling in 2015 is a confidence in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (Pg.: 20-28), that has as its outcome a set of critical and developmental results designed to produce learners who are critical thinkers, can engage with each other in a team while organizing and managing themselves effectively, can collect and analyze information and see the world as a set of connected systems. To affect this scenario, we ask ourselves: What will schooling be like in 2015? Will the education system meet and sustain the demands of business and industry in affording young people the necessary skills and abilities demanded by the economy? Which of the current burdens of the education system will be realized? Will the education system have teachers who are lifelong learners keeping pace with an ever changing knowledge system?
South Africa’s education must contribute to building a new nation that respects the dignity and rights of all. The education that the Class of 2015 receives must not only recognize human rights and values but must also be more business-like and focused on delivering quality education. Educational institutes must be more closely aligned to the organizational principles and management of the best of the corporate world. Fundamentally, education must focus on the profession of educating the child to take their place in a highly challenging and competitive economic sphere. In 2015, schools must achieve greater efficiency in respect of use of time, money and human resources that respects the rights and dignity of all and understands that we exist only because we engage with others. Schools receiving young children from an effective Early Childhood Development system must guide them through a self-led, interactive process of learning, leading to a seamless transition to higher education or the workplace. The intention of suggesting what learning will look like in 2015 is to determine whether current trends and interventions are likely to move the system in the right direction. "A key to students' success in school is (among others) direct correlation between what is taught, how it is taught and the tests designed to measure learning." Dr Galeet BenZion, (www.http://galeetbenzion.com).
It’s important that work experience is understood, highlighted and researched - Eames and Cates (2011: 41). There is a scarcity of research in cooperative and work-integrated education, especially educational outcomes from, processes in, work placements and understanding learning in work placement. ‘Understanding how learning occurs’ during work integrated learning placements could help legitimize workplace experiences as a legitimate characteristic of cooperative educative program - (Pg.: 42). Too much emphasis is placed on employer ratings and student papers (work-integrated learning placements) for the purpose of awarding credits. By finding out what students really learn from work-learning experiences, credit can be awarded for the learning resulting from work experience, i.e.: understanding work experience is understood so that the appropriate curricula, methodology and assessment is designed and implemented – Eames and Cates (2011: 42).
Ellstrom (1997; 2001), draws distinction between two qualitative different but complementary modes of learning, ‘adaptive and development learning’’. The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in South Africa is based largely on the ‘adaptive’ style of learning. A quick browse of the unit standards in the various sectors is evident of this fact. In fact, scant regard is given to ‘developmental’ learning. Sector based grading and assessing is merely testing the learner’s outcomes against the unit standard, as opposed to ‘developmental’ learning where the learner is exploring existing established definitions. These two modes of learning can be used complementary to each other and the testing of learners needs to reflect this condition. We need to change work related learning from a ring fenced defacto matter of design to organized learning communities of practice. In addition, the use of Kinesthetic learning as a learning style should be more widely used as it involves the student in actually carrying out the activities rather than simply listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesthetic_learning). Line management must be involved in the support of organized learning to provide opportunities for workers under the government’s Workplace Skills development. Management must be proactive in the identification of the training process and the content development. Under the current Workplace Skills Development, workers are subjected to very little scrutiny to assist in the type of learning they expose to. This together with the different learning styles is a recipe for potential disaster.
Tynjala, deals with three important components of education and or the learning of people. It is of the utmost importance to merge all three of the following in providing a foundation for learning, i.e.:
· Mentorship and teacher training
· Network and collaborations
· Work related learning
Educators as Learners and Learning.
In any environment learning starts with a teacher, therefore it is important that the very people who are teaching also have access to newer learning strategies and methods. Educators need to be connected to the global world and to network with their peer communities to derive the best possible solution in collaboration. For educators work related learning is also a great possibility, teachers work with students to solve problems and find solutions to complex tasks. The teaching environment must acknowledge that besides students, educators must also have the opportunity to experience work related learning.
The principle of combining learning with an outcomes based education is essential as integration guarantees that learners experience learning areas that supports and expands opportunities to acquire skills, knowledge, and cultivate attitudes and values across the broad curriculum spectrum. It is important that the curriculum gradually sets out complex, deeper and broader expectation of learners; i.e. Conceptual progress.
By effecting an arrangement of efficiently organized activities in Learning Programs within The Revised National Curriculum Statement, (http;//www.info.gov.za/view/downloadFileAction?id=70257), learning outcomes and assessment standards will be achievable. Whereas the Revised National Curriculum Statement specifies the ideas, skills and standards on a grade-by-grade basis, Learning Programs contain work schedules that provide the pace and the sequencing of these activities per phase each year. Furthermore, it contains lesson plan prototypes that can be achieved at any given period. Learning Programs should be based on relationships amongst learning outcomes and assessment standards, without compromising the integrity of Learning Areas.
There is strong resistance to preparing learners too early for a specific vocational path, but the need to supply skilled labour has driven the Further Education and Training Colleges to become very selective about the subjects and courses that they offer and the learners who may select particular courses. There will be greater control over the subjects that schools offer and such offerings will be closely linked to the needs of local industry and the probability of a program of learning, leading to employment. Even learners wishing to enter university will have to align their proposed university course with the economic or professional needs of the country.
Vocational colleges (Further Education and Training colleges, previously known as technical colleges), have gone through major changes over the past two decades. Their names were changed through processes of amalgamation which impacted their qualification structure. These identity changes present a ‘branding’ challenge, as government seeks to promote the vocational colleges as ‘institutions of choice’.
The NQF’s National Certificate (Vocational) at Levels 2, 3 and 4 was implemented to solve the problems of poor quality programs, the lack of relevance to the economy, as well as the low technical and cognitive skills of graduates. This program does not satisfy the needs of the vocational programs, nor does it enjoy universal support in the industry. In order for these programs to be effective in 2015, artisan training must be revitalized. The N-courses are fundamentally outdated and lag behind in applied disciplinary knowledge. In my opinion, while the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) has a superior knowledge base regarding N-courses, it lacks modality, is insufficiently flexible and inaccessible to part-time students. In addition it currently lacks systemic connections to both workshop and workplace learning.
EDUCATION
TECHNICAL TRAINING
LABOR MARKET ENTRY
LIFE LONG LEARNING
WORKPLACE
The flow chart above shows the overall goal of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in the skills development system to contribute to the development of ‘decent work’. Productivity is sustained by effectively linking education to technical training, to labor market entry, to the workplace, and to lifelong learning.
Recommendations
By 2015, our integrated skills development must be demonstrable in the following methods:
· Focus must be on education and training to promote economic and employment growth and social development to fully prepare students for workplace demands. WIL (work in learning), program must integrate practice and theory into curriculums and have clear educational expectations.
· Identify potential host employers for students entering and exiting learnership programs. Utilize the workplace as an active learning location and make WIL programs mutually beneficial to all stakeholders, and utilize various organizational sources to monitor, evaluate and improve effectiveness to diversify WIL programs.
· Benchmark work and learning against best local and international practices and standards to promote economic and employment growth and social development. Focus on education and training to ensure that all programs meet the requirements of professional registered and accredited organizations with regional and national support for ongoing training and development (SETA).
· Utilize training and education to develop skills in the South African workforce and increase employment opportunities, ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to WIL. Stakeholders who fail to grasp these fundamental points and continue to disregard these relationships underestimate the importance thereof, are likely to struggle, if not fail to make WIL work.
The curriculum design and revision must never be an isolated event. An advisory structure consisting of relevant stakeholders must guide the offering of the program and in particular the various aspects that enhance work integrated learning such as;
Conclusion
Learners must achieve theoretical foundations for their desired occupations and the tools to apply this knowledge in the workplace where productivity and service delivery requirements take hold. To achieve optimal alignment between the learning that takes place at these two sites, it will be necessary for new lines of communication to open. This will require a new language to develop where the language of ‘occupation’ on the side of the skills development community will have to map, knowledge domain logic of the institutionally based community. This is already in place at the level of the professions and needs to be extrapolated to other levels. There also needs to be a wide range of shorter courses which fall under the blanket of skills development that addresses immediate needs at work; e.g.: how to operate new technology or to manage new work organization systems. It is necessary to include the personal processes of experience and reconciliation experienced by learners and to consider how students engage in experiences and pedagogic practices. Furthermore, it’s not enough to merely provide practice-based experiences, but enrichment through preparing and engaging opportunities to share and reconcile what the experiences teaches.
REFERENCES
Billett, S. 2011.
Dr Galeet BenZion,
Eames, C. & Cates, C. 2011.
International Labor Organization (ILO),
Jennifer Rault-Smith,
Orrell, J. 2011.
Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (Schools),
Revised National Curriculum Statement – Department of Education/South Africa,
.markpnaidoo2012/03/29
Word count -2077/2213
(Confucius, teacher, philosopher, and political theorist, 551-479 BC)
Introduction
The purpose of my report is to analyze and evaluate challenges in the Future of Work and Learning in 2015 and recommends actions to improve workplace learning by 2015.
Education in any country or generation is determined by the past and the present. The country of Apartheid South Africa is very different from the democratic country in which South Africans now live, and the future is going to be greatly affected by this transition. In the first decade of democracy, the advances education and training provision made were driven by issues of access, redress and equity at all levels of the system. While educationists in South Africa acknowledge the need to look to the future, there is awareness that many of the consequences of the past have not yet been resolved. The schooling system has undergone a major transformation to reflect the political and societal changes in South Africa but is struggling to produce quality education.
Analysis
A key feature that suggests a positive approach to schooling in 2015 is a confidence in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (Pg.: 20-28), that has as its outcome a set of critical and developmental results designed to produce learners who are critical thinkers, can engage with each other in a team while organizing and managing themselves effectively, can collect and analyze information and see the world as a set of connected systems. To affect this scenario, we ask ourselves: What will schooling be like in 2015? Will the education system meet and sustain the demands of business and industry in affording young people the necessary skills and abilities demanded by the economy? Which of the current burdens of the education system will be realized? Will the education system have teachers who are lifelong learners keeping pace with an ever changing knowledge system?
South Africa’s education must contribute to building a new nation that respects the dignity and rights of all. The education that the Class of 2015 receives must not only recognize human rights and values but must also be more business-like and focused on delivering quality education. Educational institutes must be more closely aligned to the organizational principles and management of the best of the corporate world. Fundamentally, education must focus on the profession of educating the child to take their place in a highly challenging and competitive economic sphere. In 2015, schools must achieve greater efficiency in respect of use of time, money and human resources that respects the rights and dignity of all and understands that we exist only because we engage with others. Schools receiving young children from an effective Early Childhood Development system must guide them through a self-led, interactive process of learning, leading to a seamless transition to higher education or the workplace. The intention of suggesting what learning will look like in 2015 is to determine whether current trends and interventions are likely to move the system in the right direction. "A key to students' success in school is (among others) direct correlation between what is taught, how it is taught and the tests designed to measure learning." Dr Galeet BenZion, (www.http://galeetbenzion.com).
It’s important that work experience is understood, highlighted and researched - Eames and Cates (2011: 41). There is a scarcity of research in cooperative and work-integrated education, especially educational outcomes from, processes in, work placements and understanding learning in work placement. ‘Understanding how learning occurs’ during work integrated learning placements could help legitimize workplace experiences as a legitimate characteristic of cooperative educative program - (Pg.: 42). Too much emphasis is placed on employer ratings and student papers (work-integrated learning placements) for the purpose of awarding credits. By finding out what students really learn from work-learning experiences, credit can be awarded for the learning resulting from work experience, i.e.: understanding work experience is understood so that the appropriate curricula, methodology and assessment is designed and implemented – Eames and Cates (2011: 42).
Ellstrom (1997; 2001), draws distinction between two qualitative different but complementary modes of learning, ‘adaptive and development learning’’. The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in South Africa is based largely on the ‘adaptive’ style of learning. A quick browse of the unit standards in the various sectors is evident of this fact. In fact, scant regard is given to ‘developmental’ learning. Sector based grading and assessing is merely testing the learner’s outcomes against the unit standard, as opposed to ‘developmental’ learning where the learner is exploring existing established definitions. These two modes of learning can be used complementary to each other and the testing of learners needs to reflect this condition. We need to change work related learning from a ring fenced defacto matter of design to organized learning communities of practice. In addition, the use of Kinesthetic learning as a learning style should be more widely used as it involves the student in actually carrying out the activities rather than simply listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesthetic_learning). Line management must be involved in the support of organized learning to provide opportunities for workers under the government’s Workplace Skills development. Management must be proactive in the identification of the training process and the content development. Under the current Workplace Skills Development, workers are subjected to very little scrutiny to assist in the type of learning they expose to. This together with the different learning styles is a recipe for potential disaster.
Tynjala, deals with three important components of education and or the learning of people. It is of the utmost importance to merge all three of the following in providing a foundation for learning, i.e.:
· Mentorship and teacher training
· Network and collaborations
· Work related learning
Educators as Learners and Learning.
In any environment learning starts with a teacher, therefore it is important that the very people who are teaching also have access to newer learning strategies and methods. Educators need to be connected to the global world and to network with their peer communities to derive the best possible solution in collaboration. For educators work related learning is also a great possibility, teachers work with students to solve problems and find solutions to complex tasks. The teaching environment must acknowledge that besides students, educators must also have the opportunity to experience work related learning.
The principle of combining learning with an outcomes based education is essential as integration guarantees that learners experience learning areas that supports and expands opportunities to acquire skills, knowledge, and cultivate attitudes and values across the broad curriculum spectrum. It is important that the curriculum gradually sets out complex, deeper and broader expectation of learners; i.e. Conceptual progress.
By effecting an arrangement of efficiently organized activities in Learning Programs within The Revised National Curriculum Statement, (http;//www.info.gov.za/view/downloadFileAction?id=70257), learning outcomes and assessment standards will be achievable. Whereas the Revised National Curriculum Statement specifies the ideas, skills and standards on a grade-by-grade basis, Learning Programs contain work schedules that provide the pace and the sequencing of these activities per phase each year. Furthermore, it contains lesson plan prototypes that can be achieved at any given period. Learning Programs should be based on relationships amongst learning outcomes and assessment standards, without compromising the integrity of Learning Areas.
There is strong resistance to preparing learners too early for a specific vocational path, but the need to supply skilled labour has driven the Further Education and Training Colleges to become very selective about the subjects and courses that they offer and the learners who may select particular courses. There will be greater control over the subjects that schools offer and such offerings will be closely linked to the needs of local industry and the probability of a program of learning, leading to employment. Even learners wishing to enter university will have to align their proposed university course with the economic or professional needs of the country.
Vocational colleges (Further Education and Training colleges, previously known as technical colleges), have gone through major changes over the past two decades. Their names were changed through processes of amalgamation which impacted their qualification structure. These identity changes present a ‘branding’ challenge, as government seeks to promote the vocational colleges as ‘institutions of choice’.
The NQF’s National Certificate (Vocational) at Levels 2, 3 and 4 was implemented to solve the problems of poor quality programs, the lack of relevance to the economy, as well as the low technical and cognitive skills of graduates. This program does not satisfy the needs of the vocational programs, nor does it enjoy universal support in the industry. In order for these programs to be effective in 2015, artisan training must be revitalized. The N-courses are fundamentally outdated and lag behind in applied disciplinary knowledge. In my opinion, while the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) has a superior knowledge base regarding N-courses, it lacks modality, is insufficiently flexible and inaccessible to part-time students. In addition it currently lacks systemic connections to both workshop and workplace learning.
EDUCATION
TECHNICAL TRAINING
LABOR MARKET ENTRY
LIFE LONG LEARNING
WORKPLACE
The flow chart above shows the overall goal of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in the skills development system to contribute to the development of ‘decent work’. Productivity is sustained by effectively linking education to technical training, to labor market entry, to the workplace, and to lifelong learning.
Recommendations
By 2015, our integrated skills development must be demonstrable in the following methods:
· Focus must be on education and training to promote economic and employment growth and social development to fully prepare students for workplace demands. WIL (work in learning), program must integrate practice and theory into curriculums and have clear educational expectations.
· Identify potential host employers for students entering and exiting learnership programs. Utilize the workplace as an active learning location and make WIL programs mutually beneficial to all stakeholders, and utilize various organizational sources to monitor, evaluate and improve effectiveness to diversify WIL programs.
· Benchmark work and learning against best local and international practices and standards to promote economic and employment growth and social development. Focus on education and training to ensure that all programs meet the requirements of professional registered and accredited organizations with regional and national support for ongoing training and development (SETA).
· Utilize training and education to develop skills in the South African workforce and increase employment opportunities, ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to WIL. Stakeholders who fail to grasp these fundamental points and continue to disregard these relationships underestimate the importance thereof, are likely to struggle, if not fail to make WIL work.
The curriculum design and revision must never be an isolated event. An advisory structure consisting of relevant stakeholders must guide the offering of the program and in particular the various aspects that enhance work integrated learning such as;
- Learning materials that guide the relevant real life experiences that would bring about relevant learning.
- Materials to orientate students upon entry into work integrated learning and guidelines for mentors.
- Materials that would facilitate reflection on work experiences in order to bring about learning
- Specifications and guidelines regarding learning evidence required for cumulative assessment of work integrated learning.
- Guidelines for the monitoring of the progress of students during work integrated learning and formative assessment purposes.
Conclusion
Learners must achieve theoretical foundations for their desired occupations and the tools to apply this knowledge in the workplace where productivity and service delivery requirements take hold. To achieve optimal alignment between the learning that takes place at these two sites, it will be necessary for new lines of communication to open. This will require a new language to develop where the language of ‘occupation’ on the side of the skills development community will have to map, knowledge domain logic of the institutionally based community. This is already in place at the level of the professions and needs to be extrapolated to other levels. There also needs to be a wide range of shorter courses which fall under the blanket of skills development that addresses immediate needs at work; e.g.: how to operate new technology or to manage new work organization systems. It is necessary to include the personal processes of experience and reconciliation experienced by learners and to consider how students engage in experiences and pedagogic practices. Furthermore, it’s not enough to merely provide practice-based experiences, but enrichment through preparing and engaging opportunities to share and reconcile what the experiences teaches.
REFERENCES
Billett, S. 2011.
Dr Galeet BenZion,
Eames, C. & Cates, C. 2011.
International Labor Organization (ILO),
Jennifer Rault-Smith,
Orrell, J. 2011.
Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (Schools),
Revised National Curriculum Statement – Department of Education/South Africa,
.markpnaidoo2012/03/29
Word count -2077/2213