SPEAKERS

FET Provision: A Case of Contextualizing the power of Partnerships.

Thami Shezi

AsgiSA has identified skills shortages in South Africa as a "binding constraint." As a strategic intervention, government has embarked on numerous FET sector projects – all premised on the notion that a vibrant and responsive FET sector will deliver on the HRD mandates: skills development for sustainable economic growth, poverty and unemployment reduction. Faced with the urgency and complexity of delivery challenges, FET colleges in South Africa have embraced partnerships as delivery enablers. Within that context, this presentation will contextualize and affirm the power of partnerships; highlight prospects and challenges in forging strategic partnerships within the FET colleges' provision environment, and critically examine partnerships broadly.

Thamsanqa (Thami) Shezi is currently Academic Affairs Manager, Ekurhuleni West College for FET in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. He has served in various management posts in schools, colleges of education (teacher training colleges) and further education and training institutions in the last two decades. He has also served in various leadership positions at provincial and national levels within the FET sector in South Africa. He holds a BA (Hons) in English literature, as a Fulbright Scholar in the US, he obtained a Masters degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL), and he has Doctorate in Education. He is married and has one son and six beautiful daughters.

TVET Teacher Education: The Policy and Curriculum development: The challenges of flexible delivery and technology

Lydia Basupang

This paper examines the policy and curriculum development of the National TVET Teacher Training Programme of Botswana in Southern Africa. The Diploma in Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) is delivered and managed by the College of Technical and Vocational Education (CTVE), currently located in Francistown, Botswana.

Significant responsibility in developing policy and curriculum in a national TVET system lies with the stakeholders of TVET. The importance of the ability of TVET teachers to demonstrate and pass the skills on to the TVET learner during a normal programme of learning should not be underestimated. It is these learners that ultimately contribute to the strength of a TVET system.

Lydia Basupang is a lecturer at Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Education in Botswana. She holds BA (Hons) Degree in Fashion Design, a Diploma in TVE, as well as a Masters of Education (TVET).
 
Co-Author, Dr Don Adams worked in the Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector for 13 years before taking an appointment at the University of Newcastle. He has had extensive experience in TVET teacher education at both the school and post school levels.

International organisations and local partnerships: supporting sustainable vocational training programmes together

Kathleen Collett

Community partnerships which integrate skills training into viable income-generating businesses can provide funding for education, enable communities to take ownership of their education and give learners valuable experience and business skills. This paper examines how international organisations can support sustainable skills training by helping local community partnerships overcome some of the challenges they face, including finding resources, developing effective management strategies, and accessing technical knowledge to support training.

Kathleen Collett is a researcher for City and Guilds Centre for Skills Development, with a particular interest in community and education. Prior to joining City & Guilds, she did research for a Ford Foundation project on UN/Civil Society interaction, and has also participated in several community education projects in countries including South Africa and Jamaica. Kathleen has an honours degree in Economics from Stellenbosch University and a Masters in Politics from Oxford.

Co-Author, Nik Kafka is a director at Teach a Man to Fish, is am NGO that works with secondary schools to broaden access for the poor to a high quality education by combining vocational training and entrepreneurship.

Critical issues for practitioners in Assessment and Reco gnition of Prior Learning (RPL) in the changing context of TVET

John Arthur

The Australian VET system, like many other countries has undergone significant changes in the past few years. These changes have included various demands from individuals, employers and industry relating to a need to shift VET pedagogy to being, more learner-centred and more work-centred. Some of the most significant changes have been in the areas of workplace assessment and learning and the need to fast track learning to address skills shortages. This workshop will provide an opportunity to examine various contemporary approaches to competency based assessment and the effectiveness of these approaches in providing fair, valid and reliable assessment decisions.

John Arthur is currently employed as Head of the Management and Small Business Section at Hunter Institute of Technology. He has significant experience in working with individuals, organisations and industry in developing human resource capability in frontline management, leadership and organisational learning. John has worked with a range of international educational institutions and clients in Papua New Guinea, India, Iran, Sri Lanka, the South Pacific and the United Arab Emirates. He has qualifications in teaching, assessment and workplace training, commerce and a Master of Business Administration.

Co-author, Donna Hensley is Special Advisor (TVET) to Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Education and Arts The University of Newcastle , Australia

FET pyramid or space shuttle?

Elsie Potgieter

What should FET colleges DO to contribute to the value of work and social change?
In contextualizing the challenges South Africa faces regarding work ethics and perceptions, one realizes that our challenges are unique. We should focus our energy on delivering further education and training in an effective and efficient manner to ensure that we provide a workforce whose members understand their role as change agents in their immediate and in the larger society.

Bridge the gap between vocational delivery and occupational needs begs the question: how does FET ensure that experiential learning (the practical component) meet industry standards?

This presentation will highlight the implementation of practical and innovative ways of meeting these demands and will challenge the FET sector to rethink their delivery.

Elsie Potgieter is the Deputy CEO: Education, Innovation and Development at the College of Cape Town for Further Education and Training. Her holds a Secondary Teachers Diploma, B Com (Accountancy, Economics and Business Economics) and an Honours’ degree in Industrial Psychology. She has been involved with education and training since 1980 at secondary schools, technical colleges and further education and training colleges. She is a qualified assessor, moderator, verifier and skills development facilitator and has been involved with strategic management of FET colleges since 1995.

Best Practices from project partnerships with FET Colleges

Chris Murray

Project Partnerships for occupational programmes between FET Colleges and other agencies suggest that models and best practices that can be applied in the implementation of an FET college’s core business - providing vocational education programmes.
 
As the end of the second year of implementation of the vocational programmes introduced at FET colleges, much has been learnt from the teething problems of the first year, and colleges have, to a large extent, put in place measures to address these.  This year (2008) saw the second intake of the National Certificate (Vocational) Level 2 and the first Level 3 learners. As a result most of the lessons and changes have focused on appropriate entry, student management issues and academic support. However, from 2009, FET Colleges will need to address industry linkages as well as support for learners exiting from colleges.

In the context of methodologies and best practices developed through partnerships projects on occupational programmes such as skills development and new venture creation projects, funded by Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) over recent years, it must be asked how these contribute towards developing Student Support processes for National Certificate (Vocational) students in the FET Colleges? And, how does entrepreneurship and own business start-up fit into an exit strategy?
This session will suggest some lessons learnt and best practices from project partnerships with FET Colleges and allow for interactive debate on the issues.

Chris Murray has worked in the fields of education and training, skills and youth development in South Africa for more than 20 years. He is well respected in the FET College sector as well as in the SETA environment where he has a considerable reputation in developing and successfully implementing transforming projects and processes. Chris was involved in providing strategic support to some FET Colleges to develop their Recapitalization plans. He enjoys using an interactive facilitation process in workshop.