Society for Industrial Psychology
SUBMISSION: SKILLS DEVELOPMENT BILL
19 AUGUST 1998

The Society for Industrial Psychology acknowledges the great need for skills training in the country and endorses the principles underlying the Bill.

Reference is made to page 6 (a) "counselling of workers on career choices".
The above implies certain professional interventions which presuppose the gathering of information by means of standardised psychological assessment procedures such as interest inventories, aptitude tests and personality inventories. It must be noted that the use and control of such instrumentation is explicitly reserved for registered psychologists in terms of the provisions of Act 56 of 1974 (Medical and Dental Supplementary Health Professionals Act). The terms "use" and "control' in this case imply administration, scoring and particularly interpretation of test results.

Reference is also made to page 6 (b) " assessment of work-seekers for-entry or re-entry into the labour market; or education and training’.

This would necessitate the use of assessment instrumentation to establish that such work-seekers possess the necessary potential. This is particularly important in assessment for skills programmes as it would be unjustifiable to invest the time and money required unless it has been shown that the recipients of skills training possess the potential to cope with the demands of training. There is a strong probability that large numbers of people are likely to apply for the skills training programmes. It is inevitable that selection procedures would have to be instituted. The most viable procedures for the purpose are bound to be the use of psychological assessment instrumentation which would comply with the provisions outlined in the Employment Equity Bill.

A concern arises that the skills training programmes may result in a situation where the training creates expectations which cannot possibly be met in terms of the realities of the labour economic situation of the country. Widespread disgruntlement of this nature could lead to explosive labour relations situations. Ways to meet the employment needs of those undergoing skills training need to be addressed,

Kasthuri Nainaar
(Chairperson: Society for Industrial Psychology)