Contents Page

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 2

2 The History on developing artisans The Apprenticeshipsrsquohelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 4

3 The Skills Development Act The birth of Learnerships helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 8

4 The context of Learnerships helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 10

5 Learnerships in the construction industry to date helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 12

6 Constraints encountered within Learnerships helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 14

7 Attracting and recruiting the Youth in becoming Artisans helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 18

9 Conclusion helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 19

10 Bibliography helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 20

1

Introduction

South Africa has received international acclaim and recognition for having successfully

dismantled the previous apartheid system and replaced it with a democratic order this was a

monumental task which our new government tackled with distinction (Kunene 2006) But

despite this progress low levels of skills among the majority of the formerly disadvantaged

population and high unemployment rates especially among youths (age 15-24) still remain the

countryrsquos most pressing concerns and greatest problem towards a better future for all

(Mummenthey 2008)

The learnership system which was introduced by the Skills Development Act in 1998 was

thought to be a creative vehicle (Davies et al 2004) to tackle these problems in two significant

ways first by enhancing skills levels in a workplace-oriented environment and second by

providing learners with employment during the phase of acquiring recognised occupational

training A research study conducted by Mummenthey (2008) found that since its actual

implementation in 2000 the system has not always been able to meet up to its expectations Low

enrolment rates and a slow employer take up characterize the system in most sectors This is

particularly true for the construction sector which is perceived as an escalator industry for skills

development by the government (Erasmus et al 2009) as the industry requires fairly basic and

intermediate skills Moreover the industry provides the necessary infrastructure for all other

economic sectors and is therefore critical for the countryrsquos future economic growth and

international competitiveness The low employer take-up in the sector seems to be persistent

despite the fact that the industry is currently experiencing huge constraints in terms of skills

most importantly in carrying out the infrastructural projects connected to the governmentrsquos

Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA) This included R372 billion spending plan for

various kinds of general infrastructure for the preparation of the 2010 Soccer World Cup (cidb

2007) Due to the low involvement in training the industry faces a severe shortage of adequately

skilled staff particularly artisans across all major trades The shortage of artisans which is

considered to hamper infrastructure development both in the public and private sector is

projected to go beyond 2010

2

The construction sector which due to its labour intensive nature by using relatively elementary

skills is regarded as one of the key drivers for reducing unemployment and poverty (CETA

2007 cidb 2004) Providing employment to more than 700000 people and the largest

contributor to the GDP growth (CETA 2007) the construction sector is not only a direct means

for promoting social inclusion and future development but most importantly a means to an end

as it provides the necessary infrastructure to support economic growth and output in all other

economic sectors (CETA 2007)

Despite its important role in creating the countryrsquos future its participation in developing skills in

the sector is very low with only 1443 enterprises out of 23979 levy paying enterprises

submitting Workplace Skills Plans (CETA 2007) This indicates that the level of participation in

learnership training is low even though the industry currently faces severe skill constraints A

25-year period of significant decline ending in the year 2000 during which very little investment

was made in training has left this sector with a very low base of human capacity and a skilled

workforce which is mainly approaching retirement age (CIDB 2007) Since the low-point in

1999 the industry in the previous years has seen a steady increase in infrastructure development

and residential building which has already severely strained the existing skills force and has

challenged the industry to secure the required skills (CIDB 2006 2007)

There is strong consensus amongst employers and industry bodies that the rising demand for

construction is fast out-pacing the supply of appropriately trained and qualified people at all

levels (cidb 2007) therefore the lack of skilled labour is considered the primary constraint for

building operations followed by shortages in the availability of building material The primary

skills needs identified in this context by the cidb (2007) are highest at artisan level The cidb

(2007) states that the skill demand for key management is less than two hundred in most

categories whilst for skilled and semi-skilled artisans it is in the range of two to three thousand

over a five-year period with artisan shortages estimated to be at least in the range of 7 500 each

year over the next four years and growth is expected to go beyond

As the learnership system is regarded as one of the major means for developing artisan skills in

the industry it is imperative that an efficient and effective implementation of the system in the

3

industry be addressed urgently the general importance of a functioning learnership system in the

construction industry for reducing unemployment and ensuring overall future growth in South

Africa can thus not be overstated (Mummenthey 2008)

1 History on Developing Artisans Apprenticeship

In her study on Learnerships in the Construction Industry Mummenthey (2008) investigated the

history of Apprenticeship training and its eventual failure The subsequent text has been taken

from her thesis lsquoThe origins of learnerships can be traced back to the apprenticeship system of

the 1920s (Apprenticeship Act of 1922) which at the time was a racially defined training system

reserved purely for the white segment of the South African population Traditionally the

apprenticeship system was South Africarsquos major pathway for intermediate skills development

and thus the qualification of white artisans for all major industry sectors including the

construction industry Artisan apprentices were fully sponsored by an employer during their

apprenticeship which had an average duration of 3-5 years Apprentices studied in part-time

block release format at a technical college and were provided practical work experience under

the supervision of a senior artisan at their workplace The historically lsquowhitersquo system only

became inclusive and accessible to the African population with the reforms recommended by

three state commissions in the late 1970s ndash the Wiehahn Riekert and De Lange Commission

(1977-1981) The commissions which had been a reaction to the imminent skills shortage of this

era argued for a streamlining and rationalising of labour and training legislation as well as

improved access for Africans to formal schooling technical colleges and enterprise training

Based on these recommendations the statutory de-racialisation of the apprenticeship system

became effective formally with the enactment of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 (Akoojee

et al 2005) As a result of this new legislation the National Training Board (NTB) was

established in the same year and its primary function was to serve as a national consultant for

the development of policy strategies in the vocational education and training sector From the

mid-80s the system began to experience a substantial and continuous decline the first indication

of which was a significant drop in the number of qualified artisans (from 13500 in 1985 to 5145

in 1999) In addition there was a significant decrease in the number of newly indentured

4

apprentices (from 10758 in 1991 to a low of 3129 in 1999 signifying - 7091) For the building

industry the numbers dropped from 417 indentured apprentices in 1991 to 107 in 1999 a decline

of 7434 (Kraak 2007 pp 487-488) Secondly the system achieved very low placement rates

after training which was estimated between an average of 15 by the DoL (2001c p 32) and

336 by FET college graduates in 2001 Kraak (2003a pp 680-681) reported that 697 of

African and 242 of white qualified artisans remained unemployed The low placement rates

were due mainly to a social change in training conditions in the system over the years

With the introduction of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 and the years following the official

de-racialisation the racial distribution in the system became more and more inverted Ninety

percent of the students in technical colleges were now black and studied full-time mostly

without being able to obtain any employer participation (Kraak 2007) This clearly indicated

that even though the legal barriers for inclusion had been withdrawn the system still seemed

premised on the continued exclusion of Africans to equal employment opportunities Other

reasons apart from the de-racialisation process which may have supported the decline were

(Akoojee et al 2005)

1048707 the economic recession during the final phase of apartheid

1048707 rising costs of training fees (up to 80 of a skilled labourerrsquos wage)

1048707 reduction of subsidies and phasing out of tax concessions

1048707 poor image of FET colleges due to a lack of responsiveness to labour market requirements

Whatever the reasons for the decline were a report of the HSRC in 1984 (Investigation into the

Training of Artisans) leveled criticisms at and questioned the general quality of the training and

the system of control for apprenticeships The main concerns were related to the ability of the

system to meet current technological skills requirements and the low quality of the practical

workplace training This was often unsupervised and unstructured on-the-job training which did

not always expose the apprentice to the full range of the trade Moreover the report stressed a

lack of theoretical input and criticised the fact that the system attributed artisan status after 5

years irrespective of passing the trade test ie only by lsquoeffluxion of timersquo A general

5

dissatisfaction was further expressed with the time-based model as it did not take into account

the differing learning tempos of the apprentices Other critics were concerned with the narrow

confine of apprenticeships which did not cater for all age categories gender groups (highly male

dominated) skills levels (only artisans) and industrial sectors (Akoojee et al 2005)They thus

argued for a more responsive inclusive and flexible skills development system to meet the needs

of all (age race and gender dimensions as well as employment sectors)rsquo

Apprenticeships versus learnerships Characteristic features and differences

As the apprenticeship training programme under these conditions did not seem a realistic option

for a national skills solution the concept of learnerships was introduced The new system sought

to be more flexible provide for the needs of all and to address the criticisms leveled at the

declining apprenticeship system (DoL 2001e) The component elements and key features of the

two systems thus differed vastly To illustrate these major differences the key characteristics of

the apprenticeship and the learnership system are looked at in Table 1 The table has been based

on the views of Mummenthey (2008) as set out in her research

Table 1 Apprenticeships versus learnerships

Characteristics Apprenticeship Learnership

Offering principle Mainly supply-side driven Offered by providersindependently of an articulated demand by thelabour market limited to some industries

Offered in response to an articulated social oreconomic need for all sectors

Trained qualifications Only blue collar trades atintermediate skills levels (N1-N4)Mainly building construction workers ofdifferent designated trades at N2 level

All range of occupations in the NQFin which a work-based learning route is viable

Primary qualityassurance institution

Industry Training Board (ITB)BITB (Building Industry Training Board) andCivil Engineering Industry Training Board (CEITB)

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)Construction Education and Training Authority(CETA)

6

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

Introduction

South Africa has received international acclaim and recognition for having successfully

dismantled the previous apartheid system and replaced it with a democratic order this was a

monumental task which our new government tackled with distinction (Kunene 2006) But

despite this progress low levels of skills among the majority of the formerly disadvantaged

population and high unemployment rates especially among youths (age 15-24) still remain the

countryrsquos most pressing concerns and greatest problem towards a better future for all

(Mummenthey 2008)

The learnership system which was introduced by the Skills Development Act in 1998 was

thought to be a creative vehicle (Davies et al 2004) to tackle these problems in two significant

ways first by enhancing skills levels in a workplace-oriented environment and second by

providing learners with employment during the phase of acquiring recognised occupational

training A research study conducted by Mummenthey (2008) found that since its actual

implementation in 2000 the system has not always been able to meet up to its expectations Low

enrolment rates and a slow employer take up characterize the system in most sectors This is

particularly true for the construction sector which is perceived as an escalator industry for skills

development by the government (Erasmus et al 2009) as the industry requires fairly basic and

intermediate skills Moreover the industry provides the necessary infrastructure for all other

economic sectors and is therefore critical for the countryrsquos future economic growth and

international competitiveness The low employer take-up in the sector seems to be persistent

despite the fact that the industry is currently experiencing huge constraints in terms of skills

most importantly in carrying out the infrastructural projects connected to the governmentrsquos

Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA) This included R372 billion spending plan for

various kinds of general infrastructure for the preparation of the 2010 Soccer World Cup (cidb

2007) Due to the low involvement in training the industry faces a severe shortage of adequately

skilled staff particularly artisans across all major trades The shortage of artisans which is

considered to hamper infrastructure development both in the public and private sector is

projected to go beyond 2010

2

The construction sector which due to its labour intensive nature by using relatively elementary

skills is regarded as one of the key drivers for reducing unemployment and poverty (CETA

2007 cidb 2004) Providing employment to more than 700000 people and the largest

contributor to the GDP growth (CETA 2007) the construction sector is not only a direct means

for promoting social inclusion and future development but most importantly a means to an end

as it provides the necessary infrastructure to support economic growth and output in all other

economic sectors (CETA 2007)

Despite its important role in creating the countryrsquos future its participation in developing skills in

the sector is very low with only 1443 enterprises out of 23979 levy paying enterprises

submitting Workplace Skills Plans (CETA 2007) This indicates that the level of participation in

learnership training is low even though the industry currently faces severe skill constraints A

25-year period of significant decline ending in the year 2000 during which very little investment

was made in training has left this sector with a very low base of human capacity and a skilled

workforce which is mainly approaching retirement age (CIDB 2007) Since the low-point in

1999 the industry in the previous years has seen a steady increase in infrastructure development

and residential building which has already severely strained the existing skills force and has

challenged the industry to secure the required skills (CIDB 2006 2007)

There is strong consensus amongst employers and industry bodies that the rising demand for

construction is fast out-pacing the supply of appropriately trained and qualified people at all

levels (cidb 2007) therefore the lack of skilled labour is considered the primary constraint for

building operations followed by shortages in the availability of building material The primary

skills needs identified in this context by the cidb (2007) are highest at artisan level The cidb

(2007) states that the skill demand for key management is less than two hundred in most

categories whilst for skilled and semi-skilled artisans it is in the range of two to three thousand

over a five-year period with artisan shortages estimated to be at least in the range of 7 500 each

year over the next four years and growth is expected to go beyond

As the learnership system is regarded as one of the major means for developing artisan skills in

the industry it is imperative that an efficient and effective implementation of the system in the

3

industry be addressed urgently the general importance of a functioning learnership system in the

construction industry for reducing unemployment and ensuring overall future growth in South

Africa can thus not be overstated (Mummenthey 2008)

1 History on Developing Artisans Apprenticeship

In her study on Learnerships in the Construction Industry Mummenthey (2008) investigated the

history of Apprenticeship training and its eventual failure The subsequent text has been taken

from her thesis lsquoThe origins of learnerships can be traced back to the apprenticeship system of

the 1920s (Apprenticeship Act of 1922) which at the time was a racially defined training system

reserved purely for the white segment of the South African population Traditionally the

apprenticeship system was South Africarsquos major pathway for intermediate skills development

and thus the qualification of white artisans for all major industry sectors including the

construction industry Artisan apprentices were fully sponsored by an employer during their

apprenticeship which had an average duration of 3-5 years Apprentices studied in part-time

block release format at a technical college and were provided practical work experience under

the supervision of a senior artisan at their workplace The historically lsquowhitersquo system only

became inclusive and accessible to the African population with the reforms recommended by

three state commissions in the late 1970s ndash the Wiehahn Riekert and De Lange Commission

(1977-1981) The commissions which had been a reaction to the imminent skills shortage of this

era argued for a streamlining and rationalising of labour and training legislation as well as

improved access for Africans to formal schooling technical colleges and enterprise training

Based on these recommendations the statutory de-racialisation of the apprenticeship system

became effective formally with the enactment of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 (Akoojee

et al 2005) As a result of this new legislation the National Training Board (NTB) was

established in the same year and its primary function was to serve as a national consultant for

the development of policy strategies in the vocational education and training sector From the

mid-80s the system began to experience a substantial and continuous decline the first indication

of which was a significant drop in the number of qualified artisans (from 13500 in 1985 to 5145

in 1999) In addition there was a significant decrease in the number of newly indentured

4

apprentices (from 10758 in 1991 to a low of 3129 in 1999 signifying - 7091) For the building

industry the numbers dropped from 417 indentured apprentices in 1991 to 107 in 1999 a decline

of 7434 (Kraak 2007 pp 487-488) Secondly the system achieved very low placement rates

after training which was estimated between an average of 15 by the DoL (2001c p 32) and

336 by FET college graduates in 2001 Kraak (2003a pp 680-681) reported that 697 of

African and 242 of white qualified artisans remained unemployed The low placement rates

were due mainly to a social change in training conditions in the system over the years

With the introduction of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 and the years following the official

de-racialisation the racial distribution in the system became more and more inverted Ninety

percent of the students in technical colleges were now black and studied full-time mostly

without being able to obtain any employer participation (Kraak 2007) This clearly indicated

that even though the legal barriers for inclusion had been withdrawn the system still seemed

premised on the continued exclusion of Africans to equal employment opportunities Other

reasons apart from the de-racialisation process which may have supported the decline were

(Akoojee et al 2005)

1048707 the economic recession during the final phase of apartheid

1048707 rising costs of training fees (up to 80 of a skilled labourerrsquos wage)

1048707 reduction of subsidies and phasing out of tax concessions

1048707 poor image of FET colleges due to a lack of responsiveness to labour market requirements

Whatever the reasons for the decline were a report of the HSRC in 1984 (Investigation into the

Training of Artisans) leveled criticisms at and questioned the general quality of the training and

the system of control for apprenticeships The main concerns were related to the ability of the

system to meet current technological skills requirements and the low quality of the practical

workplace training This was often unsupervised and unstructured on-the-job training which did

not always expose the apprentice to the full range of the trade Moreover the report stressed a

lack of theoretical input and criticised the fact that the system attributed artisan status after 5

years irrespective of passing the trade test ie only by lsquoeffluxion of timersquo A general

5

dissatisfaction was further expressed with the time-based model as it did not take into account

the differing learning tempos of the apprentices Other critics were concerned with the narrow

confine of apprenticeships which did not cater for all age categories gender groups (highly male

dominated) skills levels (only artisans) and industrial sectors (Akoojee et al 2005)They thus

argued for a more responsive inclusive and flexible skills development system to meet the needs

of all (age race and gender dimensions as well as employment sectors)rsquo

Apprenticeships versus learnerships Characteristic features and differences

As the apprenticeship training programme under these conditions did not seem a realistic option

for a national skills solution the concept of learnerships was introduced The new system sought

to be more flexible provide for the needs of all and to address the criticisms leveled at the

declining apprenticeship system (DoL 2001e) The component elements and key features of the

two systems thus differed vastly To illustrate these major differences the key characteristics of

the apprenticeship and the learnership system are looked at in Table 1 The table has been based

on the views of Mummenthey (2008) as set out in her research

Table 1 Apprenticeships versus learnerships

Characteristics Apprenticeship Learnership

Offering principle Mainly supply-side driven Offered by providersindependently of an articulated demand by thelabour market limited to some industries

Offered in response to an articulated social oreconomic need for all sectors

Trained qualifications Only blue collar trades atintermediate skills levels (N1-N4)Mainly building construction workers ofdifferent designated trades at N2 level

All range of occupations in the NQFin which a work-based learning route is viable

Primary qualityassurance institution

Industry Training Board (ITB)BITB (Building Industry Training Board) andCivil Engineering Industry Training Board (CEITB)

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)Construction Education and Training Authority(CETA)

6

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

The construction sector which due to its labour intensive nature by using relatively elementary

skills is regarded as one of the key drivers for reducing unemployment and poverty (CETA

2007 cidb 2004) Providing employment to more than 700000 people and the largest

contributor to the GDP growth (CETA 2007) the construction sector is not only a direct means

for promoting social inclusion and future development but most importantly a means to an end

as it provides the necessary infrastructure to support economic growth and output in all other

economic sectors (CETA 2007)

Despite its important role in creating the countryrsquos future its participation in developing skills in

the sector is very low with only 1443 enterprises out of 23979 levy paying enterprises

submitting Workplace Skills Plans (CETA 2007) This indicates that the level of participation in

learnership training is low even though the industry currently faces severe skill constraints A

25-year period of significant decline ending in the year 2000 during which very little investment

was made in training has left this sector with a very low base of human capacity and a skilled

workforce which is mainly approaching retirement age (CIDB 2007) Since the low-point in

1999 the industry in the previous years has seen a steady increase in infrastructure development

and residential building which has already severely strained the existing skills force and has

challenged the industry to secure the required skills (CIDB 2006 2007)

There is strong consensus amongst employers and industry bodies that the rising demand for

construction is fast out-pacing the supply of appropriately trained and qualified people at all

levels (cidb 2007) therefore the lack of skilled labour is considered the primary constraint for

building operations followed by shortages in the availability of building material The primary

skills needs identified in this context by the cidb (2007) are highest at artisan level The cidb

(2007) states that the skill demand for key management is less than two hundred in most

categories whilst for skilled and semi-skilled artisans it is in the range of two to three thousand

over a five-year period with artisan shortages estimated to be at least in the range of 7 500 each

year over the next four years and growth is expected to go beyond

As the learnership system is regarded as one of the major means for developing artisan skills in

the industry it is imperative that an efficient and effective implementation of the system in the

3

industry be addressed urgently the general importance of a functioning learnership system in the

construction industry for reducing unemployment and ensuring overall future growth in South

Africa can thus not be overstated (Mummenthey 2008)

1 History on Developing Artisans Apprenticeship

In her study on Learnerships in the Construction Industry Mummenthey (2008) investigated the

history of Apprenticeship training and its eventual failure The subsequent text has been taken

from her thesis lsquoThe origins of learnerships can be traced back to the apprenticeship system of

the 1920s (Apprenticeship Act of 1922) which at the time was a racially defined training system

reserved purely for the white segment of the South African population Traditionally the

apprenticeship system was South Africarsquos major pathway for intermediate skills development

and thus the qualification of white artisans for all major industry sectors including the

construction industry Artisan apprentices were fully sponsored by an employer during their

apprenticeship which had an average duration of 3-5 years Apprentices studied in part-time

block release format at a technical college and were provided practical work experience under

the supervision of a senior artisan at their workplace The historically lsquowhitersquo system only

became inclusive and accessible to the African population with the reforms recommended by

three state commissions in the late 1970s ndash the Wiehahn Riekert and De Lange Commission

(1977-1981) The commissions which had been a reaction to the imminent skills shortage of this

era argued for a streamlining and rationalising of labour and training legislation as well as

improved access for Africans to formal schooling technical colleges and enterprise training

Based on these recommendations the statutory de-racialisation of the apprenticeship system

became effective formally with the enactment of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 (Akoojee

et al 2005) As a result of this new legislation the National Training Board (NTB) was

established in the same year and its primary function was to serve as a national consultant for

the development of policy strategies in the vocational education and training sector From the

mid-80s the system began to experience a substantial and continuous decline the first indication

of which was a significant drop in the number of qualified artisans (from 13500 in 1985 to 5145

in 1999) In addition there was a significant decrease in the number of newly indentured

4

apprentices (from 10758 in 1991 to a low of 3129 in 1999 signifying - 7091) For the building

industry the numbers dropped from 417 indentured apprentices in 1991 to 107 in 1999 a decline

of 7434 (Kraak 2007 pp 487-488) Secondly the system achieved very low placement rates

after training which was estimated between an average of 15 by the DoL (2001c p 32) and

336 by FET college graduates in 2001 Kraak (2003a pp 680-681) reported that 697 of

African and 242 of white qualified artisans remained unemployed The low placement rates

were due mainly to a social change in training conditions in the system over the years

With the introduction of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 and the years following the official

de-racialisation the racial distribution in the system became more and more inverted Ninety

percent of the students in technical colleges were now black and studied full-time mostly

without being able to obtain any employer participation (Kraak 2007) This clearly indicated

that even though the legal barriers for inclusion had been withdrawn the system still seemed

premised on the continued exclusion of Africans to equal employment opportunities Other

reasons apart from the de-racialisation process which may have supported the decline were

(Akoojee et al 2005)

1048707 the economic recession during the final phase of apartheid

1048707 rising costs of training fees (up to 80 of a skilled labourerrsquos wage)

1048707 reduction of subsidies and phasing out of tax concessions

1048707 poor image of FET colleges due to a lack of responsiveness to labour market requirements

Whatever the reasons for the decline were a report of the HSRC in 1984 (Investigation into the

Training of Artisans) leveled criticisms at and questioned the general quality of the training and

the system of control for apprenticeships The main concerns were related to the ability of the

system to meet current technological skills requirements and the low quality of the practical

workplace training This was often unsupervised and unstructured on-the-job training which did

not always expose the apprentice to the full range of the trade Moreover the report stressed a

lack of theoretical input and criticised the fact that the system attributed artisan status after 5

years irrespective of passing the trade test ie only by lsquoeffluxion of timersquo A general

5

dissatisfaction was further expressed with the time-based model as it did not take into account

the differing learning tempos of the apprentices Other critics were concerned with the narrow

confine of apprenticeships which did not cater for all age categories gender groups (highly male

dominated) skills levels (only artisans) and industrial sectors (Akoojee et al 2005)They thus

argued for a more responsive inclusive and flexible skills development system to meet the needs

of all (age race and gender dimensions as well as employment sectors)rsquo

Apprenticeships versus learnerships Characteristic features and differences

As the apprenticeship training programme under these conditions did not seem a realistic option

for a national skills solution the concept of learnerships was introduced The new system sought

to be more flexible provide for the needs of all and to address the criticisms leveled at the

declining apprenticeship system (DoL 2001e) The component elements and key features of the

two systems thus differed vastly To illustrate these major differences the key characteristics of

the apprenticeship and the learnership system are looked at in Table 1 The table has been based

on the views of Mummenthey (2008) as set out in her research

Table 1 Apprenticeships versus learnerships

Characteristics Apprenticeship Learnership

Offering principle Mainly supply-side driven Offered by providersindependently of an articulated demand by thelabour market limited to some industries

Offered in response to an articulated social oreconomic need for all sectors

Trained qualifications Only blue collar trades atintermediate skills levels (N1-N4)Mainly building construction workers ofdifferent designated trades at N2 level

All range of occupations in the NQFin which a work-based learning route is viable

Primary qualityassurance institution

Industry Training Board (ITB)BITB (Building Industry Training Board) andCivil Engineering Industry Training Board (CEITB)

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)Construction Education and Training Authority(CETA)

6

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

industry be addressed urgently the general importance of a functioning learnership system in the

construction industry for reducing unemployment and ensuring overall future growth in South

Africa can thus not be overstated (Mummenthey 2008)

1 History on Developing Artisans Apprenticeship

In her study on Learnerships in the Construction Industry Mummenthey (2008) investigated the

history of Apprenticeship training and its eventual failure The subsequent text has been taken

from her thesis lsquoThe origins of learnerships can be traced back to the apprenticeship system of

the 1920s (Apprenticeship Act of 1922) which at the time was a racially defined training system

reserved purely for the white segment of the South African population Traditionally the

apprenticeship system was South Africarsquos major pathway for intermediate skills development

and thus the qualification of white artisans for all major industry sectors including the

construction industry Artisan apprentices were fully sponsored by an employer during their

apprenticeship which had an average duration of 3-5 years Apprentices studied in part-time

block release format at a technical college and were provided practical work experience under

the supervision of a senior artisan at their workplace The historically lsquowhitersquo system only

became inclusive and accessible to the African population with the reforms recommended by

three state commissions in the late 1970s ndash the Wiehahn Riekert and De Lange Commission

(1977-1981) The commissions which had been a reaction to the imminent skills shortage of this

era argued for a streamlining and rationalising of labour and training legislation as well as

improved access for Africans to formal schooling technical colleges and enterprise training

Based on these recommendations the statutory de-racialisation of the apprenticeship system

became effective formally with the enactment of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 (Akoojee

et al 2005) As a result of this new legislation the National Training Board (NTB) was

established in the same year and its primary function was to serve as a national consultant for

the development of policy strategies in the vocational education and training sector From the

mid-80s the system began to experience a substantial and continuous decline the first indication

of which was a significant drop in the number of qualified artisans (from 13500 in 1985 to 5145

in 1999) In addition there was a significant decrease in the number of newly indentured

4

apprentices (from 10758 in 1991 to a low of 3129 in 1999 signifying - 7091) For the building

industry the numbers dropped from 417 indentured apprentices in 1991 to 107 in 1999 a decline

of 7434 (Kraak 2007 pp 487-488) Secondly the system achieved very low placement rates

after training which was estimated between an average of 15 by the DoL (2001c p 32) and

336 by FET college graduates in 2001 Kraak (2003a pp 680-681) reported that 697 of

African and 242 of white qualified artisans remained unemployed The low placement rates

were due mainly to a social change in training conditions in the system over the years

With the introduction of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 and the years following the official

de-racialisation the racial distribution in the system became more and more inverted Ninety

percent of the students in technical colleges were now black and studied full-time mostly

without being able to obtain any employer participation (Kraak 2007) This clearly indicated

that even though the legal barriers for inclusion had been withdrawn the system still seemed

premised on the continued exclusion of Africans to equal employment opportunities Other

reasons apart from the de-racialisation process which may have supported the decline were

(Akoojee et al 2005)

1048707 the economic recession during the final phase of apartheid

1048707 rising costs of training fees (up to 80 of a skilled labourerrsquos wage)

1048707 reduction of subsidies and phasing out of tax concessions

1048707 poor image of FET colleges due to a lack of responsiveness to labour market requirements

Whatever the reasons for the decline were a report of the HSRC in 1984 (Investigation into the

Training of Artisans) leveled criticisms at and questioned the general quality of the training and

the system of control for apprenticeships The main concerns were related to the ability of the

system to meet current technological skills requirements and the low quality of the practical

workplace training This was often unsupervised and unstructured on-the-job training which did

not always expose the apprentice to the full range of the trade Moreover the report stressed a

lack of theoretical input and criticised the fact that the system attributed artisan status after 5

years irrespective of passing the trade test ie only by lsquoeffluxion of timersquo A general

5

dissatisfaction was further expressed with the time-based model as it did not take into account

the differing learning tempos of the apprentices Other critics were concerned with the narrow

confine of apprenticeships which did not cater for all age categories gender groups (highly male

dominated) skills levels (only artisans) and industrial sectors (Akoojee et al 2005)They thus

argued for a more responsive inclusive and flexible skills development system to meet the needs

of all (age race and gender dimensions as well as employment sectors)rsquo

Apprenticeships versus learnerships Characteristic features and differences

As the apprenticeship training programme under these conditions did not seem a realistic option

for a national skills solution the concept of learnerships was introduced The new system sought

to be more flexible provide for the needs of all and to address the criticisms leveled at the

declining apprenticeship system (DoL 2001e) The component elements and key features of the

two systems thus differed vastly To illustrate these major differences the key characteristics of

the apprenticeship and the learnership system are looked at in Table 1 The table has been based

on the views of Mummenthey (2008) as set out in her research

Table 1 Apprenticeships versus learnerships

Characteristics Apprenticeship Learnership

Offering principle Mainly supply-side driven Offered by providersindependently of an articulated demand by thelabour market limited to some industries

Offered in response to an articulated social oreconomic need for all sectors

Trained qualifications Only blue collar trades atintermediate skills levels (N1-N4)Mainly building construction workers ofdifferent designated trades at N2 level

All range of occupations in the NQFin which a work-based learning route is viable

Primary qualityassurance institution

Industry Training Board (ITB)BITB (Building Industry Training Board) andCivil Engineering Industry Training Board (CEITB)

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)Construction Education and Training Authority(CETA)

6

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

apprentices (from 10758 in 1991 to a low of 3129 in 1999 signifying - 7091) For the building

industry the numbers dropped from 417 indentured apprentices in 1991 to 107 in 1999 a decline

of 7434 (Kraak 2007 pp 487-488) Secondly the system achieved very low placement rates

after training which was estimated between an average of 15 by the DoL (2001c p 32) and

336 by FET college graduates in 2001 Kraak (2003a pp 680-681) reported that 697 of

African and 242 of white qualified artisans remained unemployed The low placement rates

were due mainly to a social change in training conditions in the system over the years

With the introduction of the Manpower Training Act in 1981 and the years following the official

de-racialisation the racial distribution in the system became more and more inverted Ninety

percent of the students in technical colleges were now black and studied full-time mostly

without being able to obtain any employer participation (Kraak 2007) This clearly indicated

that even though the legal barriers for inclusion had been withdrawn the system still seemed

premised on the continued exclusion of Africans to equal employment opportunities Other

reasons apart from the de-racialisation process which may have supported the decline were

(Akoojee et al 2005)

1048707 the economic recession during the final phase of apartheid

1048707 rising costs of training fees (up to 80 of a skilled labourerrsquos wage)

1048707 reduction of subsidies and phasing out of tax concessions

1048707 poor image of FET colleges due to a lack of responsiveness to labour market requirements

Whatever the reasons for the decline were a report of the HSRC in 1984 (Investigation into the

Training of Artisans) leveled criticisms at and questioned the general quality of the training and

the system of control for apprenticeships The main concerns were related to the ability of the

system to meet current technological skills requirements and the low quality of the practical

workplace training This was often unsupervised and unstructured on-the-job training which did

not always expose the apprentice to the full range of the trade Moreover the report stressed a

lack of theoretical input and criticised the fact that the system attributed artisan status after 5

years irrespective of passing the trade test ie only by lsquoeffluxion of timersquo A general

5

dissatisfaction was further expressed with the time-based model as it did not take into account

the differing learning tempos of the apprentices Other critics were concerned with the narrow

confine of apprenticeships which did not cater for all age categories gender groups (highly male

dominated) skills levels (only artisans) and industrial sectors (Akoojee et al 2005)They thus

argued for a more responsive inclusive and flexible skills development system to meet the needs

of all (age race and gender dimensions as well as employment sectors)rsquo

Apprenticeships versus learnerships Characteristic features and differences

As the apprenticeship training programme under these conditions did not seem a realistic option

for a national skills solution the concept of learnerships was introduced The new system sought

to be more flexible provide for the needs of all and to address the criticisms leveled at the

declining apprenticeship system (DoL 2001e) The component elements and key features of the

two systems thus differed vastly To illustrate these major differences the key characteristics of

the apprenticeship and the learnership system are looked at in Table 1 The table has been based

on the views of Mummenthey (2008) as set out in her research

Table 1 Apprenticeships versus learnerships

Characteristics Apprenticeship Learnership

Offering principle Mainly supply-side driven Offered by providersindependently of an articulated demand by thelabour market limited to some industries

Offered in response to an articulated social oreconomic need for all sectors

Trained qualifications Only blue collar trades atintermediate skills levels (N1-N4)Mainly building construction workers ofdifferent designated trades at N2 level

All range of occupations in the NQFin which a work-based learning route is viable

Primary qualityassurance institution

Industry Training Board (ITB)BITB (Building Industry Training Board) andCivil Engineering Industry Training Board (CEITB)

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)Construction Education and Training Authority(CETA)

6

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

dissatisfaction was further expressed with the time-based model as it did not take into account

the differing learning tempos of the apprentices Other critics were concerned with the narrow

confine of apprenticeships which did not cater for all age categories gender groups (highly male

dominated) skills levels (only artisans) and industrial sectors (Akoojee et al 2005)They thus

argued for a more responsive inclusive and flexible skills development system to meet the needs

of all (age race and gender dimensions as well as employment sectors)rsquo

Apprenticeships versus learnerships Characteristic features and differences

As the apprenticeship training programme under these conditions did not seem a realistic option

for a national skills solution the concept of learnerships was introduced The new system sought

to be more flexible provide for the needs of all and to address the criticisms leveled at the

declining apprenticeship system (DoL 2001e) The component elements and key features of the

two systems thus differed vastly To illustrate these major differences the key characteristics of

the apprenticeship and the learnership system are looked at in Table 1 The table has been based

on the views of Mummenthey (2008) as set out in her research

Table 1 Apprenticeships versus learnerships

Characteristics Apprenticeship Learnership

Offering principle Mainly supply-side driven Offered by providersindependently of an articulated demand by thelabour market limited to some industries

Offered in response to an articulated social oreconomic need for all sectors

Trained qualifications Only blue collar trades atintermediate skills levels (N1-N4)Mainly building construction workers ofdifferent designated trades at N2 level

All range of occupations in the NQFin which a work-based learning route is viable

Primary qualityassurance institution

Industry Training Board (ITB)BITB (Building Industry Training Board) andCivil Engineering Industry Training Board (CEITB)

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)Construction Education and Training Authority(CETA)

6

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

Addressedlearner group

Indentured learners under the age of 24

All types of learners (employed pre- andunemployed) with disparate levels of prior learningNo age restrictions

Underlying trainingprinciple

Time-based Input-orientedTime-based theoretical education combined withpractical less structured on-the-job learning for adhoc occupational application Focus on input ratherthan an active participation of the learner in thelearning process

Outcomes-based Learner oriented Integration of theoretical education and structured workplace training of a specified nature andduration including generic skills with a clear future orientation The learner stands at the centre of the process and takes an active role in learning

Training providers(TheoreticalPractical)

Technical colleges one employerBuilding Industries Federation of South Africa(BIFSA) training college accredited institutions

Accredited provider(s)Employergroup of employers(large medium small

Duration 3-5 years for qualifying artisans depending on thespecific tradePart-time studies in block release format

On average 12-18 months depending on the finalcredit value of the NQF qualification For artisanlevel several learnerships leading to NQF level 3-4Format according to needs not specified

Assessment Final central trade testConducted by BIFSA on behalf of BITB

Multiple individual assessments by accreditedassessors Evidence provided in portfolio (iePortfolio of Evidence)

Primary legislation Manpower Training Act of 1981

Skills Development Act of 1998

Funding Voluntary levy collected and determined by the responsible Industry Training Board(Manpower Training Amendment Act of 1990)15 levy collected by BITB

Mandatory and nationally fixed levy collected bySARS and disbursed to the SETA(Skills Development Levies Act of 1999)

7

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

3 The Skills Development Act The Birth of lsquoLearnershipsrsquo

As mentioned in the preceding literature one of the principal causes of the low level of skills in

South Africa is the lacklow education across all the sectors in the country which is influenced

by an a working environment that is ever changing in terms of the methods and skills required to

properly execute work tasks According to Bellis (2001) the fact that there is very little

evaluation of training done in our country has obscured the probability that much expenditure on

training has done little to improve competence and performance In his view the problem lies in

how training and development are undertaken than in how many training courses are run The

Skills Development Act (SDA) together with all the other related legislation (the South African

Qualifications Authority Act No 58 of 1995 encompassing the National Qualifications

Framework concept) aims to address and lessen the above mentioned training and education

deficit

For an understanding of the nature of learnerships it is important to understand the purpose and

function of the SDA and its integrated frameworks The purpose of the skills development Act

No 97 of 1998 is to

Develop the skills of the South African workforce

- to improve the quality of life of workers their prospects of work and labour mobility

- to improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers

- to promote self-employment and

- to improve the delivery of social services

To increase the levels of investment in education and training in the labour market and to

improve the return on that investment

To encourage employers

- to use the workplace as an active learning environment

- to provide employees with the opportunities to acquire new skills

- to provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience

8

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

- to employ persons who find it difficult to be employed

To improve the employment prospects-of persons previously disadvantaged by unfair

discrimination and to redress those disadvantages through training and education

To ensure the quality of education and training in and for the workplace

To assist

- work seekers to find work retrenched workers tore-enter the labour market employers

to find qualified employees and to provide and regulate employment services

The above purposes are to be achieved through institutional and financial frameworks made up

of

The National Skills Authority whose function is to advice the minister of labour liaise

with the SETArsquos conduct investigations and exercise any other of powers the Act

The National Skill Fund This will be created from funds collected from skill

development levies from parliament donations to the fund interest from investments

and money received from other sources

Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

Labour Centers Whose main function are to provide employment services for workers

employers and training providers especially in rural areas to register work seekers and to

register vacancies and work opportunities

The Skills Development Planning Unit This is a unit at the Department of Labour

(DoL) head office to address the national issues on policy and strategy such as the

National Skills Development Strategy I- IIII

One of the major structures for the achievement of the purposes of the SDA is that of the

SETAs (Bellis 2001) as they are the functioning lsquolimbsrsquo of the SDA They are also tasked

9

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

with implementing registering promoting and collecting amp distributing skills development

levies within their respective sectors (SDA 1998)

4 The Context of Learnerships

Babb et al (2005) points out the learnership system are one of the cornerstones of the new skills

development legislation The learnership system is seen as an intervention to redress the old

apprenticeship system and its problems and create a high quality dual system of learning

(Mukora 2008) Learnerships are defined and regulated by the Skills Development Act and

according to chapter 4 of the SDA learnerships require the following elements for their

establishment through a Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA)

consists of a structured learning component

includes practical work experience of a specified nature and duration

would lead to a qualification registered by the South African Qualifications Authority

and related to an occupation and

is registered with the Director-General in the prescribed manner

There are varying definitions of a Learnership but based on what is outlined in the SDA it can

be described as a path to a nationally recognised qualification that relates to an occupation and

consists of a structured learning component and practical work experience The Construction

Education and Training Authorityrsquos (CETA 2006) defines it as ldquoA learnership is a route to

acquiring a qualification in the National Qualification Framework (NQF) that offers both

theoretical and workplace experience in any chosen career hellip The learnership programme is a

qualification that is outcomes-based It allows learners to interact with the working environment

while gaining an understanding of the workplacerdquo Mummenthey (2008) in her research defines

it as providing a planned and appropriate combination of learning outcomes with a defined

purpose providing learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning comprising

three components ie fundamental core and elective unit standards entailing specified exit level

outcomes and generally achieving the required credits in a range of 30 to 70 of time spent at

the workplace

As stipulated by the SDA (RSA 1998) the learnership agreement is a legally binding agreement

that has to be concluded between the employer and the learner For a learnership to be legal

10

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

there needs to a signing of a learnership agreement between the three involved parties to a

learnership (the Employer the Learner and the Training provider) and the learnership needs to

registered with a SETA This agreement is in addition to a general contract of employment

signed by the learner

The contract of employment and the learnership agreement place clear obligations and rights on

all three parties to the learnership agreement The basic responsibilities according to the

learnership agreement are (Department of Labour 2001a)

Employer duties

to employ the learner for the defined period

to provide the learner with practical work experience

to allow the learner to attend off-the-job education and training measures

Learner duties

to work for the employer

to attend any educationtraining programmes specified

Provider duties

to provide the learner with the education and training as specified

to support the learner in the learning process

The contract of employment will stipulate the conditions of employment such as working hours

overtime and leave it will also indicate how much and learner will be paid The learner has to be

paid an allowance According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 75 of 1997 (RSA

2001) this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the lsquoqualified wagersquo based on the credits

the learner has already achieved The lsquoqualified wagersquo is defined as the wage the employer

would pay the learner on obtaining the qualification for which the learnership is registered The

exact remuneration as well as its calculation (and the minimum allowance) are regulated by the

Act

11

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

Learnerships in the Construction Industry to date

CETA funds learnership but with a total of 8 365 levy-paying construction companies in the

sector only 56 learnerships had been registered with the CETA by mid 2003 (cidb 2004) Since

then there has been an innovative approach by industry and CETA that has enabled an

introduction of a system in which a number of companies can take on a shared commitment thus

providing some renewed impetus to skills development (cidb 2004) Government support to this

approach is reflected in amended regulations that cater for employer groups by the form of a tax

incentive The tax incentive is applicable at the beginning of and upon completion of the

learnership (DoL 2001) at the beginning of the learnership (for learners already employed by

the entity) once a Learnership agreement has been entered into and the agreement registered with

a SETA the employer is eligible for a deduction of 70 of the annual wages paid to that learner

up to a maximum of R20 000 during the relevant year of assessment and upon completion for

(unemployed learners) the employer is eligible for a deduction of 100 of the Learnership

allowance paid to that learner up to a maximum of R30 000 during the relevant year of

assessment To date CETA has 84 registered learnerships with 44 of them active 21 of them

replaced and 19 of them Active but to be extended in the future

The following is a list of registered learnerships for the year 2010(CETA 2010)

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050048 18 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpentry)

24296 Active

05 Q 050047 16 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(carpeting)

24296 Active

05 Q 050049 20 120 1 1 Construction Floor coverer(vinyl)

24296 Active

05 Q 050034 41 120 1 1 Construction road worker(construction)

22977 Replaced by 24133

05 Q 050036 40 120 1 1 Construction road 22977 Replaced by

12

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

worker(maintenance) 24133

Registration Number NQF

Status

Learnership Title Qualification

Number

Status

05 Q 050073 21 123 2 2 Construction materials tester (bituminous)

49058 Active

05 Q 050074 22 139 2 2 Construction materials tester (concrete)

49058 Active

05 Q 050080 32 129 2 2 Construction crane operator

48961 Active

05Q05103261202 2 Construction foreman 49410 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction plasterer

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction masonry

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction painter

65409 Active

05Q050110221403 3 NC Construction formworks

65409 Active

05Q050101351604 4 Plumber 58782 Active

05Q050064 241426 4 Surveyor(hydrographic) 20487 Active

05Q050087871764 4 Construction supervisor 23682 Replaced by 49053

05Q050063252715 5 Structural steel detailer 48636 Active

05Q050043312045 5 Manager Building Construction

23675 Active

05Q050044342675 5 Manager Civil Roadworkrsquos

23675 Active

05Q050089341405 5 Geographical information science operator

23675 Active

The CEO of CETA Mr Petrus Maoko reaffirmed their dedication to skills development by

saying ldquoCETA is prepared and able to answer the call to accelerate skills development within the

construction sector and is setting measures in place that will assist the organization worker faster

harder and smarter to meet the needs of the construction sector and accelerate the turn-around

13

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

time of internal processes rdquo and that CETA is ready to make the construction sector more

accessible to women young people people with disabilities and rural communities (Duma

2010)

Constraints encountered within Learnerships

In the book on Perspective in Learnerships Babb et al (2005) have highlighted the key elements

for an effective learnership programme The elements are the overall purpose aims and

objectives of the programme the governance of the programme the learning outcome expressed

as a qualification the selection of the learners the quality of the learning provision on the job

training and work placement the assessment process and ongoing evaluation of the programme

and the administration of the system

Overall purposes aims and objective It is clear that the purpose and objective of such a

programme is to address the national professional and organisational need for skilled artisan and

to redress the gap of inequality amongst the South African citizens

The governance of the system A learnership is a multi stakeholderrsquos (the DoL DoE SETAs

learners training providers etc) entity and the more diverse the stakeholders the more essential

the governance structures and processes need to be It is when all these stakeholders understand

their roles and responsibilities that an effective programme is created

Qualifications The learnership must lead to an accredited qualification which may be broad

based or occupation specific The curriculum must include broader skills requirements such as

interpersonal skills life skills problem solving skill and communication skills which are cited as

being critical to enable the learner to perform to their full potential and be adaptable to any

working environment

Selection of learners Although learnerships are open to any one within the designated age

limits there needs to be a balance between the numbers of learners accepted into them with their

14

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

best chances of succeeding To ensure this an assessment of potential learners to ensure their

basic ability to succeed is an essential component of selecting learners for the programme

Quality of learning provision For a learnership to be work effectively highly effective training

provider institutions with well qualified and capable teaching staff sound administration and

cutting edge equipment and facilities are required

On the job training and work placement Successful learnerships incorporate on the job training

coaching and assessment furthermore on the job training should be structured outcome based

and challenging By structured they should ensure that the necessary learning outcomes are

covered by outcome based they should ensure that the learning actually occurs and the

progression from one phase to the next without worrying about the time and it should be

challenging by ensuring that the learner is motivated to learn

The assessment and evaluation process The assessment process needs to be a multiple process

involving problem solving and the design of the process is critical and the capacity of the

assessors needs to be built and the appropriate tools developed Learnerships should also

evaluate their success that is their outcome such as if their learners have been employed if they

are contributing to their sector and how successful their outcome is instead of the number of

learners the programme has produced

Administration of the programme For a learnership to work the administrator who manages it

should ensure that the data required should be well maintained as it is needed for workplace

skills planning and reporting employment equity and sectoral charter reporting

All these above mentioned elements if properly implemented prove to deliver an effective and

successful learnership (Examples of such successes is the BAKSETA from the banking sector

(Dunn 2005)) so then the question arises why are most learnership not delivering what the

Skills development act had set out to achieve Based on various literature read the following are

the key problems thought to be the hindering factors to the success of learnership programme for

artisans in general and in the construction industry (MBA 2008 Mukora 2008 Mummenthey

2008 cidb 2004 CETA 2008 Babb et al 2005)

15

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

When the Setas were established the majority did not have appropriate systems and

procedures in place to deal with their core functions From a governance and oversight

point of view the situation was equally problematic as SETA boards were constituted

and sought to define their areas of responsibility

There was an underestimation of the scale of the task and the volume of the problems in

terms of implementing the SDA This then could have fed into a failure to sufficiently

factor in the extent to which the new system might become bureaucratized and hence its

resource intensity

There appeared to be a lack of understanding not only around the structure of the

economy but also the nature of work processes (especially in relation to artisans and the

role they played in the production process)

Those pushing for a new order did not have an appreciation for the artisan and there was

a sense that intermediate (artisan) skills are not important This was partly related to the

fact that the apprenticeship system had become so fundamentally linked with the

apartheid system (and hence had become discredited) and there was a real sense that

artisan skills would no longer be required as part of the skills base of the lsquonew economyrsquo

which was to emerge Hence the artisan became a devalued commodity

Research has revealed that learnerships until fairly recently have tended to be focused at

very low skills levels Where artisan-based learnerships have been introduced cynicism

emerged around quality It has been argued that this is partly a result of the fact that

learnerships were not ready to be implemented when they were but there was political

pressure to do so as opposed to continuing with the apprenticeship system

The people required to provide training do not possess the skills required for effective

coaching and training and in addition the administration burden associated with

16

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

learnerships and assessment results in trainers feeling that they are distracted from their

core responsibilities

The pipeline for the development of skilled personnel is partly a responsibility of

education and labour So it is not within the sole domain of Setas to deliver skills into the

economy The effectiveness of the educational system is critical in achieving this

objective This not only raises the question of the linkage between education and labour

and the lack of co-ordination between the two ministries but also highlights the fact that a

number of blockages have occurred some of which are systemic and have nothing to do

with the functioning of the Setas

Often the lack of an overall learning curriculum is indicative of poor workplace skills

planning (which must be submitted to the SETA by employers)

In many learnerships there is a significant divide between what learners are taught and

what occurs on the job What the learner learns in the classroom is unable to practice in

the work environment

The construction environment with increasingly temporary and casual employment does

not bode well for learnerships as these by definition have a long-term orientation

(duration of a minimum of one year) and require formal contractual arrangements The

duration of the training may thus be a concern

Another challenge is the labour-intensive nature of the work which requires the

employment of a large amount of relatively elementary skills about 40 percent of the

workforce is made up of general manual labour (who are unqualified or partly qualified)

African employees fill almost 90 percent of the elementary occupations The sector

employs the fourth highest number of people having no formal education which

challenges the implementation of learnerships even further as this industry is particularly

affected by the numeracy literacy and language related problems

17

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18

Attracting and Recruiting the Youth as Artisans

Over the years various discussions have taken place on how to build the image of the artisan

(Mukora 2008) The Artisan Development Coordinating Committee has proposed during their

committees meeting in June 2007 a new definition of an artisan as follows lsquoldquoArtisanrdquo will mean

a person that has been certificated as competent by a relevant Education and Training Quality

Assurance body for a qualification registered on the National Qualifications Framework for a

Trade listed by the Minister of Labour in the Skills Development Act as amended which trade

has a designation at occupation level on the Organising Framework for Occupations and the

person is registered with the Registrar for Artisans as an Artisan for such a Tradersquo It is obvious

that in the past the artisan was considered a valued skill within the workplace but as the years

went by the artisan became less appreciated and respected

It is also apparent that young people would rather work with computers than to for engineering

and its associated professions because young people are afraid to get their hands dirty (Mukora

2008) If the country is to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be

implemented to encourage the youth to become artisans Catt et al (1997) established mechanism

or methods that can be employed in attracting and retaining younger people to what they

perceive lsquounsuitablersquo or lsquoundesirablersquo careers

Advertising a well written lsquocatchyrsquo advert placed in the newspaper magazines and played on

radio and TV outlining the benefits of being an artisan and how acquiring such skills would

empower the applicant would go a long way in changing the perception of the artisan and

attracting the youth

Open events the DoL DoE the SETAs and all the other contributing stakeholders could host a

series of lsquoopen daysrsquo in schools and communities

18