COVERSTORYI----------------------------------------SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

WORKPLACES,TRAINING SPACESAccelerated artisan programme's success hingeson greater college-workplace collaboration

JOANNE TAYLOR I STAFF WRITER

NEW GROWTH PATHThe artisan development system should have produced 90 759 new artisans by 2012

The gap between artisan training andindustry requirements remains acore area of disquiet for business,

which believes that urgent measures areneeded to foster greater integration betweentraining colleges and workplaces to deal withthe deficit \

This concern was again aired at the recentAccelerated Artisan Training Programme(AATP) Symposium, hosted by theManufacturing, Engineering and RelatedServices Sector Education and TrainingAuthority (Merseta).

The AATP was established five years agoto meet the growing demand for artisans inSouth Africa, with research showing thatthe country is in dire need of qualified arti-sans to replace the existing cadre, manyOf whom are approaching retirement age.The country's New Growth Path goalsstipulate that the artisan developmentsystem should have produced 90 759 newartisans by 2016.

Trade artisans are workers in a skilled

trade that usually involves making, buildingor repairing things by hand, such as boiler-makers, fitters, masons, builders, painters,jewellers, glassmakers, goldsmiths, mechanics,carpenters, plumbers, electricians,millwrights,chefs, panelbeaters, riggers, shipbuilders andtoolmakers.

A report by the South African Oil andGas Alliance (Saoga) states that, as tech-nology advances, the gap will continue toincrease unless new measures are put inplace. Saoga, itself, is partnering with theWestern Cape Department of EconomicDevelopment and Tourism, participatingfurther education and training (FET)colleges and industry to launch skills

....development projects to bring college andindustry together.

On a broader scale, Merseta is moving toestablish new partnerships between FETcolleges and industry in a bid not only tonarrow the skills gap but also to ensure thattraining remains relevant to the needs on thefactory floor.

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Better AlignmentThe role of FET colleges in these partner-ships is to align themselves with industryrequirements, offer improved career guidanceto students, keep lecturers informed aboutindustry advances and create more realisticexpectations of the job market among students,as new graduates often demand the salary ofan experienced artisan.

Colleges have been requested to allowindustry to secure a seat on college boards,which will allow industry to be more involvedin the training material used at colleges. Thiswill contribute to artisans being work-readywhen they finish their training.

Companies are urged to offer trainingto college lecturers and work through thecurriculum and amend it where necessary.

Employed and experienced artisans couldalso be released-to participate in mentorshipat colleges. It has also been suggested thatcompanies host students on tours of theirplants so that they can get a better under-standing of the job requirements and risks.

Participants in the discussion recommendedthat sector education and training authorities(Setas) help shorten the turnaround time oftraining by means of a fund to help studentsthat have not completed matric gain workreadiness and build an understanding of theminimum requirements for internship andapprenticeship programmes.

The effectiveness of this emerging college-industry partnership will be measured bythe number of graduates being absorbed byindustry and an assessment of the costs andinvestments of the training programmes.

Swiss South African Cooperation Initiative(SSACI) CEO Ken Duncan suggested thatan ideal artisan training programme entailsa week of work where the days are dividedbetween collegeand in-service training. In thisway, problems at the college can be quicklyidentified and rectified to make the curricu-lum employer and market driven.

Collaboration PilotedSSACI, in association with Merseta andthe Joint Education Trust, implemented asix-month pilot internship programme toprovide National Certificate Vocational(NCV) engineering graduates with accessto the world of work through relevant, struc-tured and appropriate workplace learningand to demonstrate an alternative pathwayto the workplace for these graduates throughthe successful implementation of this intern-ship programme.

The outcomes of the pilot programme werethat interns felt that their internship was wellmanaged and adequately supervised andthey had access to the necessary resources.Companies involved with the colleges priorto the pilot programme said it strengthenedtheir partnership and allowed for links to be

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the test on the first attempt is that studentswere not adequately prepared, followed by42% of the training providers blamingemployers and 6% of employers blamingtraining providers, which is a significantmotivation for the call to implement college-industry partnerships.

A total of 15%of the 500 artisan graduatessurveyed remained unemployed.

Based on the findings, it was recommendedthat Merseta play a more active role in facili-tating the finding of employment for gradu-ates - for example, creating a database of itsartisans so that companies that need qualifiedartisans can do a search.

The survey also indicates that most arti-sans and employers still regard the durationof the programme - 24 months - as a crashcourse and there is evidence of a stigmaattached to the word 'accelerated'. It isrecommended that Merseta rebrand theAATP with a name that reflects the pro-gramme's qualification requirements andmonitor the structure where compulsorytheory and training are concerned.

RAYMOND PATELContinuous improvement of the AcceleratedArtisan Training Programme is vital

FELlX RAUNERThe most influential determinant for successfulvocational learning is the lecturer

KEN DUNCANAn artisan training programme should entail aweek of work where the days are divided betweencollege and in-service training

explored beyond the pilot programme.Duncan concluded that the companies

confirmed that the pilot programme improved,specifically,the technical skills and knowledgeof the NCV engineering students.

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The benefits of such pilot programmes forapprentices include the close integration oftheory and practice, the immediate reinforce-ment of learning, real working conditions atall times, fewer gaps between colleges andcompanies in terms of technology, practiceand ethos, as well as an early sense of respon-sibility and productive value.

The advantages for colleges include thepromotion of a closer alignment of the cur-riculum with industry needs and regularinteraction between colleges and compa-nies, which often leads to income-generatingcontracts. It will also foster skills developmentamong college staff and provide higher passand employment rates.

-"Colleges can offer training to lecturers,but companies must be dedicated to put inthe work in the college-industry partner-ships," he says.

Academic CapacityLecturers' competence also needed to beassessed, said the University of Bremen'sProfessor Felix Rauner, who presented thefindings of the Comet Competence Modeldeployed in Germany.

The model is a method of measuringthe teaching competence of vocationaleducation and training (VET) teachers byevaluating functional (subject knowledgeand methods), procedural (the ability toorganise training efficiencyand sustainability)and holistic shaping competence (creativity,sociocultural integration and social compati-bility with students).

The model made it possible to identify thestrengths and weaknesses of VET teachers'competence. Valid and reliable data wasa precondition to develop a strategy forreform, said Rauner.

"The most influential determinants forsuccessful vocational learning are VETteachers and trainers," he argued.

Through the AATP programme, Mersetais focusing on pacing and structuring thedevelopment of competent apprentices overtwo to three years.

Apprentices entering the programmehave higher entry qualifications than thoseof the standard four-year apprenticeshipand the structure of exposure to the cur-riculum is highly regulated and monitored.To participate in the AATP programme,employers must have an apprentice intakeof ten or more candidates and enoughqualified artisans to mentor them.

A survey was done in July and August,in which Merseta sampled 500 artisangraduates. Its findings show that the num-ber of students who pass their trade test ontheir first attempt and who finish theirapprenticeship within the specified timeis increasing.

The most common reason for not passing

Thinking Big and SmallOther recommendations are that Mersetainclude an entrepreneurship and businessskills component in the curriculum for trades,which will help artisans start their ownbusinesses and thereby create much-neededemployment for others.

It is also felt that the inclusion of smallbusinesses in the training, developmentand employment of artisans should be apriority.

Most such enterprises do not have thecapacity to cope with the rigours of theAATP and do not always employ trainingspecialists, but they can benefit fromthe training grants and from employingqualified artisans.

Therefore, a collective method should bedeveloped for small businesses in similarsectors operating in close proximity, wherethe management and administration of thetraining are handled externally, possiblyby a Merseta employee or a regional office,and where an external provider can handlesome of the training.

A key demand outcome, though, is thatMerseta facilitate college-industry part-nerships to improve the work readinessof graduates and the quality of theirtraining, and assist them in findingemployment or in starting businesses andcreating more jobs.

"It is up to industry to ensure artisansare trained accordingly by partnering withcolleges. Employers should have the finalsay in the training material because theyare the end-users of the artisans," MersetaCEO Raymond Patel concluded. ~,."ENGINEERING NEWS COUPON ON PAGE 110 E272301

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