scholarly journals Assessing work-based values: The missing link in improving youth employability

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Andrew Paterson ◽  
Roelien Herholdt ◽  
James Keevy ◽  
Bina Akoobhai
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Real Work ◽  
And Training ◽  
Insight Into

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are intended to equip youths with work-relevant skills, but the capacity of the labour market to absorb them is limited and South Africa has high levels of unemployment. Employers argue that young work-seekers from TVET colleges may well possess technical skills but lack employability skills, including appropriate work-based attitudes and values. In response to this scenario, a team of experts designed a short, interactive programme for TVET college students to acquire an improved understanding of and insight into their own values and how these inform their behaviour in the workplace. The values selected were respect, accountability, self-improvement and perseverance. The programme’s intended outcome was to increase the participants’ awareness of the link between values and their actions so that they could improve their own decision-making and their relationships with colleagues in the workplace. Following this programme, the students were afforded a period of workplace exposure during which they were required to reflect on their experience and how workplace behaviour revealed their own and work colleagues’ underlying values. A crucial challenge for the project team was to be able to measure any impact on the participants’ understanding of the values and how this understanding might guide their behaviour. The focus of this article is on how the assessment instrument was conceptualised, designed and piloted in South Africa and Kenya. The instrument was required to measure effectively any changes in the participants’ understanding of the meaning of each value and the adjustments in their ability to apply the values in real work-based scenarios.

scholarly journals Substances use and its association with socio-demographic, family, and environment-related factors among technical and vocational education and training College students in Ataye, Ethiopia.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
abate dargie wubetu ◽  
Sintayehu Getachew ◽  
Wassie Negash
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Vocational Education ◽  
Associated Factors ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Substance Users ◽  
Technical And Vocational Education ◽  
Legal Substances ◽  
And Training

Abstract Background: Legal substances use is prevalent in Ethiopia. Substance use can have several health problems that are potentially harmful to educational performance, social issues, psychological and physical wellbeing. This study aimed to know the prevalence of lifetime and last month’s substance use and its associated factors among technical and vocational education and training College students in Ataye town. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 March to last May 2019. Participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data collected by using a structured and pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data collected by five trained diploma nurses with close supervision. Odds ratio with their 95% confidence interval, and p-value less than 0.05 used to declare the statistical significance of associated factors. Results: Four hundred eighty-three individuals participated in the study, which was a response rate of 94%. The prevalence of lifetime legal substance use was 32.5% (95% CI: 28.2, 36.5). The prevalence of last month's legal substances use was 21.9% (95% CI= 18.2, 25.5). Among lifetime legal substance users, the majority (25.5%) chewed khat. The others, (19.5%) drunk alcohol, and, 15.3% smoked cigarettes in a lifetime. Lifetime cannabis and cocaine users were 2.5%, and 7.2% respectively. Among last month's legal substance users, (21.9%) chewed khat followed by alcohol drinking (16.6%), and cigarette smoking (15.3%). In the last month, 1.2% and 3.3% of students used cannabis and cocaine respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that being male, having a divorced family, living greater than twenty years in the town, having substance user family members, having intimate friend substance users, and easy availability of substances were independent predictors of lifetime legal substances use. Conclusions: The prevalence of last month and lifetime legal substance use at Ataye Technical and Vocational Education and Training ( TVET ) college students were analogous with most studies done in Ethiopia. It is advisable if the college administrators work together with town administrators to mitigate the problem including closing substance use houses around the school. Overall, Substance use among adolescents should get further emphasis to lower the prevalence.

The implications of the decision in Helen Suzman Foundation v Judicial Service Commission 2018 (7) BCLR 763 (CC) 8 on the functioning of the South African Judicial Service Commission

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nomthandazo Ntlama
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Service Commission ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Future Management

ABSTRACT The article examines the implications of the judgment of the Constitutional Court in Helen Suzman Foundation v Judicial Service Commission 2018 (7) BCLR 763 (CC) 8 on the functioning of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The judgment has brought to the fore a new lease of life relating to the JSC's post-interview deliberations as a disclosable record in terms of Rule 53(1)(b) of the Uniform Rules of Court. The disclosure seeks to provide an insight into the decision-making process of the JSC in the appointment of judicial officers in South Africa. It is argued that the judgment is two-pronged: first, the disclosure of the post-interview record enhances the culture of justification for decisions taken, which advances the foundational values of the new democratic dispensation; secondly, it creates uncertainty about the future management and protection of the JSC processes in the undertaking of robust debates on the post-interview deliberations. It then questions whether the JSC members will be privileged in their engagement with the suitability of the candidates to be recommended for appointment by the President. The question is raised against the uncertainty about which decision of the JSC will be challenged that will need the disclosure of the record because the judgment does not entail the national disclosure of the record in respect of each candidate but applies only when there is an application for review of the JSC decision. Key words: Judicial Service Commission, appointments, discretion, judiciary, independence, rule of law, discretion, accountability, transparency, human rights.

scholarly journals Developmental TVET Rhetoric In-Action: The White Paper for Post-School Education and Training in South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Salim Akoojee
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Training System ◽  
School Education ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Definitive Statement ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Training

This paper explores the extent to which latest developments in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training System in South Africa respond to key principles espoused for a developmental, democratic and inclusionary ideal. The White Paper for post school education and training approved by Cabinet in November, 2013 is referred to by the Minister as the "definitive statement of the governments vision for the post school system" and as such represents a crucial strategy document intended to chart the TVET direction to 2030. Using key theoretical constructs from development theory, this paper provides an assessment of the TVET strategy contained is the paper and explores the extent to which it does respond to the agenda defined by the promise. It is argued that the challenges outlined are not yet able to provide the blueprint for a TVET transformative vision. It is concluded that while the development rhetoric contained in the paper is plausible, the creative tinkering of the system is unlikely to lead to the radical revisioning necessary for a truly transformative TVET system. The underlying assumptions regarding purpose, impact and outcome will need to be carefully reconsidered if the system is to be responsive to the promises of the democratic developmental ideal to which the government is committed.

scholarly journals Substances use and its association with socio-demographic, family, and environment-related factors among technical and vocational education and training college students in Ataye, Ethiopia. Institution-based cross-sectional study 

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
abate dargie wubetu ◽  
Sintayehu Getachew ◽  
Wassie Negash
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Vocational Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Substance Users ◽  
Technical And Vocational Education ◽  
Legal Substances ◽  
And Training

Abstract Background: Legal substances use is prevalent in Ethiopia. Substance use can have several health problems that are potentially harmful to educational performance, social issues, psychological and physical wellbeing. This study aimed to know the prevalence of lifetime and last month’s substance use and its associated factors among technical and vocational education and training College students in Ataye town. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 March to last May 2019. Participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data collected by using a structured and pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data collected by five trained diploma nurses with close supervision. Odds ratio with their 95% confidence interval, and p-value less than 0.05 used to declare the statistical significance of associated factors. Results: Four hundred eighty-three individuals participated in the study, which was a response rate of 94%. The prevalence of lifetime legal substance use was 32.5% (95% CI: 28.2, 36.5). The prevalence of last month's legal substances use was 21.9% (95% CI= 18.2, 25.5). Among lifetime legal substance users, the majority (25.5%) chewed khat. The others, (19.5%) drunk alcohol, and, 15.3% smoked cigarettes in a lifetime. Lifetime cannabis and cocaine users were 2.5%, and 7.2% respectively. Among last month's legal substance users, (21.9%) chewed khat followed by alcohol drinking (16.6%), and cigarette smoking (15.3%). In the last month, 1.2% and 3.3% of students used cannabis and cocaine respectively. Multivariate logistic regression showed that being male, having a divorced family, living greater than twenty years in the town, having substance user family members, having intimate friend substance users, and easy availability of substances were independent predictors of lifetime legal substances use.Conclusions: The prevalence of last month and lifetime legal substance use at Ataye Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college students were analogous with most studies done in Ethiopia. It is advisable if the college administrators work together with town administrators to mitigate the problem including closing substance use houses around the school. Overall, Substance use among adolescents should get further emphasis to lower the prevalence.

The Effectiveness of Vocational Training and Access to Finance in Alleviating Poverty among Women in Rural South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-197
Author(s):  
M.D. Phala ◽  
◽  
R.M. Mukonza
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Vocational Education ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Vocational Education And Training ◽  
Access To Finance ◽  
Rural South ◽  
And Training ◽  
Rural South Africa

Globally, there is a growing belief that through women’s empowerment, the socio-economic well-being of many societies will be transformed. This article sought to investigate the effectiveness of these women’s empowerment programmes in fostering poverty alleviation in rural South Africa, using Diphagane village in Limpopo Province as a point of reference. The study employed the qualitative research approach. To facilitate an in-depth understanding of the specific area of focus, the study was premised on the exploratory research design. The findings indicate that women believe they are central to the family unit and empowering them through vocational education and training indeed alleviates poverty. The consensus is that women empowerment through vocational education and training is a key parameter to ensure women’s competitiveness, and as such improves their chances of building a better life and improving their livelihoods. This in turn leads to an improvement in the quality of life for families and the rural community. The responses obtained suggest that poverty reduction is possible through the financial empowerment of women. It is therefore recommended that the South African government intensifies provision of vocational training and access to finance as part of the broader strategy to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

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