The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges environment is marked by increasingly stark juxtapositions between what needs to be achieved in the post-school education sector and the increasing difficulty of current conditions. The ‘triple challenge’ of poverty, inequality and unemployment’ weighs heavily on the social, political and economic fabric of the country and expectations are high that the TVET colleges can make a pivotal contribution to counter these challenges

There is huge pressure to accommodate enrolment in colleges. In 2014, 71.3% of all unemployed people in South Africa were in the youth age group from 15 to 34 that is the biggest source of demand for post-school education. This amounts to more than 3.7 million people.

The TVET colleges are in a phase of unprecedented enrolment growth. Head count students numbers have risen from 325 000 in 2010 to 725 000 in 2015 and with a further substantial increase to 1 200 000 mooted by 2019. These figures are highly impressive as they stand.

Despite laudable increases in TVET enrolment, the education system needs to work harder to accommodate weight of demand for post school FET band qualifications from young people not in education, employment or training. At the same time it is vital to secure adequate quality in TVET programs which depend so much on the competence and commitment of college lecturers.

This collection introduces the following papers:

• An international comparative study that examines how macro-economic and political factors shaped TVET systems over three decades of restructuring in the United Kingdom, Netherlands and South Africa. Prof Andre Kraak
• Analysis of the unfinished project of South African TVET transformation: the quality, timing, impacts, and outcomes of successive phases of government policy, and implementation since 1994 Dr Anthony Gewer
• Qualitative analysis of TVET lecturer experiences revealing compound fragmentation of lecturer collegial relations which detracts from individual and institutional development. Prof Volker Wedekind & Dr Zanele Buthelezi
• Investigation of non-subject matter barriers that confront TVET teacher’s efforts to achieve and retain their own levels of competence and motivation so as to meet the academic and social needs of students. Under the burden of enrolment expansion. Dr Ronel Blom
• Enquiry into employer’s expectations of TVET college graduates, and their perceptions about the employability and preparedness of these graduates for work in the Tourism and Hospitality, Engineering, and Wholesale and Retail sectors. Prof Joy Papier, Seamus Needham, Nigel Prinsloo & Timothy McBride
• An appraisal of how a large scale and relatively long duration intervention program – the College Improvement Program - could impact on the TVET colleges and addressing the interwoven processes of implementation and institutional response. Carmel Marock & Eleanor Hazell
  
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  Tags:  C3043