Combating Adult Unemployment through Post-training Support in Non-formal Education and Training Programmes in South Africa

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way the adult non-formal education and training (NFET) centres motivated and empowered graduates to start their own micro-enterprises as individuals or as a group. The specific objectives are as follows: to find out the transforming factors fostering the utilisation of acquired skills into self-employment in micro-enterprises; to investigate challenges encountered in starting and managing micro-enterprises and to investigate short-term impact of the NFET programmes and micro-enterprises on living conditions of graduates. Design/methodology/approach The research design was multiple case studies. Semi-structured interviews and field observations were used for data collection in the qualitative study. In the context of non-probability sampling, the study used the purposive sampling method to select five out of 20 self-employed graduates for one-on-one interviews. Case studies also comprised some observations of activities in their small businesses. Findings The main findings reveal that “learning by doing” training approach and forming groups of entrepreneurs while being on the programme were major factors fostering the translation of acquired skills into micro-enterprises. Practical implications The adult NFET is a tool to enable poor disadvantaged people to improve their well-being. However, this can be achieved if the livelihood skills training is combined with the creation of conducive environments to allow adult trainees become micro-entrepreneurs and self-reliant. Originality/value The study contributes to the knowledge of effective entrepreneurial training programmes by demonstrating the importance of involving stakeholders from the local communities and designing post-training support mechanisms for self-employment prior to the training delivery. The centre managers should also motivate trainees to start micro-enterprises in groups or co-operatives while still on the training programmes.

Download Full-text

Rituals of Vocational Socialisation: Faith-Building in Higher Vocational Education for Weak-Form Occupational Pathways

Vocations and Learning ◽

10.1007/s12186-021-09268-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca Ye

Keyword(s):

Vocational Education ◽

Weak Form ◽

Education And Training ◽

Digital Data ◽

Vocational Education And Training ◽

Higher Vocational Education ◽

Collective Identification ◽

Qualitative Interview Study ◽

Training Programmes ◽

And Training

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of how higher vocational education and training programmes socialise participants for future work, where the occupational pathways they are to embark on are weakly defined. The analysis focuses on organisational rituals as a means to understand individual and collective transformative processes taking place at a particular intersection of education and labour markets. Building on organisational and sociological theories of rituals, as well as drawing empirically from a longitudinal qualitative interview study of a cohort of students in Swedish higher vocational education for work in digital data strategy, I explore how rituals are enacted in a vocational education and training setting and what these rituals mean to the aspirants who partake in them. The findings illustrate how rituals initiate, convert, and locate the participants in a team. These repeated encounters with rituals socialise, cultivate and build vocational faith amongst participants, despite the nascency and unstable nature of their education-to-work pathways. However, while rituals can serve as a catalyst to ignite processes of collective identification and vocational socialisation, they are not always successful. The paper discusses implications of faith-building in weak-form occupational pathways when the labour market is strong and conversely, when the economy is in recession. The text concludes by advocating the need for examining the power of educational institutions in shaping transitional experiences of participants in vocational education.

Download Full-text

Music Therapy Pre-internship Education and Training: Support for a Methods-Based Approach

Music Therapy Perspectives ◽

10.1093/mtp/miab026 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Susan C Gardstrom ◽

James Hiller ◽

Annie Heiderscheit ◽

Nancy L Jackson

Keyword(s):

Music Therapy ◽

Best Practice ◽

Clinical Decision Making ◽

Well Being ◽

Clinical Decision ◽

Education And Training ◽

Population Based ◽

Music Therapists ◽

Training Support ◽

And Training

Abstract As music therapists, music is our primary realm of understanding and action and our distinctive way of joining with a client to help them attain optimal health and well-being. As such, we have adopted and advocate for a music-focused, methods-based (M-B) approach to music therapy pre-internship education and training. In an M-B approach, students’ learning is centered on the 4 music therapy methods of composing, improvising, re-creating, and listening to music and how these music experiences can be designed and implemented to address the health needs of the diverse clientele whom they will eventually encounter as practicing clinicians. Learning is highly experiential, with students authentically participating in each of the methods and reflecting on these self-experiences as a basis for their own clinical decision-making. This is differentiated from a population based (P-B) approach, wherein students’ attention is directed at acquiring knowledge about the non-musical problems of specific “clinical populations” and the “best practice” music interventions that are presumed to address these problems. Herein, we discuss both approaches, identifying the limitations of a P-B perspective and outlining the benefits of an M-B curriculum and its relevance to 21st-century music therapy practice.

Download Full-text

Participation in formal and/or non-formal education and training for employed persons, by gender (2016)

Education at a Glance 2021 - Education at a Glance ◽

10.1787/7dded477-en ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Formal Education ◽

Education And Training ◽

And Training

Download Full-text