SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC TEACHER'S UNION (SADTU)
Submission at the Education Portfolio Committee
[Public Hearings] ADULTANDGENERALEDUCATIONANDTRAININGBILL
(AGET)
14 AUGUST 2000
1. INTRODUCTION The SADTU general membership is appreciative of the opportunity granted to make an input on the Adult and General Education and Training (AGET) Bill.
The Union is of the view that such a bill to a great extent is aimed at making the Adult Education Sub-Sector responsive to the developmental needs of the out-of-school youth, and women who could be turned into a viable workforce through enhancement of their skills and job creation opportunities.
The Union is also aware of some of the joint venture initiatives by UNISA and IEB in ensuring that ABET providers are formally accredited and joint proposals from the meetings held by the two parties have been endorsed by the SAQA during its meeting on 14 June 2000.
Much as we are in agreement with most of the aspects of the bill there are however some areas we are concerned about:
2. CONCERNS AND PROPOSALS:
Terminology: There should be consistency in the terminology (e.g. educators v/s practitioners).
Definition and Purpose The bill should also make reference to "level" and not confine itself to "grade" more so that the NQF refers to ABET levels.
Provisioning of ABET SADTU recommends that in terms of the provisioning of ABET institutions such as the rationalised senior high schools and colleges of education be considered to supplement the night school arrangements of the past. These ABET learning centres should have their separate building, a head / manager and governing structure to ensure normal running of the centre which wiIl include tuition during the day.
The employment of educators in such centres should not be confined to the requirements of the Employment of Educators' Act (EEA), principles. In practice, these may not necessarily be educators who might have gone through formal education colleges but coming from other training experiences such as industry training centres or training NGOs, informed by the needs of the centre in question and its beneficiaries. A case in point would be if the centre, will be offering FET related programmes.
ABET Governance Structures: The bill recognises the existence of an ABET National Advisory body. However, SADTU recommends that there be Provincial Advisory bodies that will facilitate the brief and function of the national structure at provincial level.
The bill is not explicit in terms of the reasons for co-opting members from the public (with voting rights) into the governance of the ABET centres as well as the size of these governance structures (in terms of numbers) SADTU views this as compromising democratic principles.
The ABET Centre community should be given the right to elect additional persons.
Funding of ABET Centres SADTU is in principle against funding, of Private ABET Centres from public monies. Instead these monies be channelled to accelerate the transformation agenda of attaining equity, quality, access for the disadvantaged adult learners.
Admission Policy The issue of anti-discrimination with regard to admission in all ABET learning centres (public or private), should not be confined to race, but also to include sex, disability and religion etc.
Quality Assurance The functions of National Advisory Board for Adult General Education and Training - NABAET should not be limited to quality assurance and its promotion but to advise the Minister on all matters affecting the sub-sector.
3. CONCLUSION The union is very keen to see the implementation of this piece of legislation.