Energy Sector Education and Training Authority
ESETA PRESENTATION TO LABOUR PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
18 & 19 MARCH 2003

ESETA PRESENTATION TO THE LABOUR PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PROGRESS MADE BY THE SECTOR IN LINE WITH THE NATIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (NSDS) FOR THE PERIOD O1 MARCH 2001 TO 28 FEBRUARY 2003

INTRODUCTION

The ESETA was established in Terms of Section 9(1) of the Skills Development Act, 97 of 1998 with scope as approved in the Government Gazette Notice No. 265 of 20 March 2000.

The Act requires the ESETA to perform the functions of the Quality Assurance, establish, manage the development and administer Learnerships, approve Workplace Skills Plans, develop and implement the sector skills plan and disburse grants to employers in the Energy sector.

As part of the implementation strategy, the ESETA established functional committees composed of stakeholders. Industry stakeholders are involved in decision-making structures and processes as provided for in the SETA constitution, Stakeholder representatives are:-

Organised Labour
Employers
Department of Minerals & Energy
Department of Public Enterprise

The ESETA has three regional offices in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban with the main office based in Gauteng.


THE NATIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY


THE ESETA SECTOR SKILLS PLAN (SSP)

The ESETA SSP was approved by the Department of Labour in April 2002. The National Skills Development Strategy Objectives formed the bases of the SSP. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was concluded between the ESETA and the Department of Labour whereby the SETA undertook to plan all its activities in support of the five NSDS objectives. The MOU again, forms the bases of the ESETA annual Business Plans. Progress on the five NSDS objectives is monitored on quarterly bases by the Department of Labour.

NSDS OBJECTIVES 1 : DEVELOPING A CULTURE OF HIGH QUALITY LIFE – LONG LEARNING


The ESETA has been accredited as an Education and Training Quality Assurance Body (ETQA) by the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA).

As an ETQA the ESETA ‘s function is to accredit and monitor educational standards in the sector. To date 25 Providers have been accredited by the ESETA and 100 Assessors have been trained.

Objective 1.1:- 70% of all workers have at least NQF 1 Qualification by March 2005. According to research done in 2000, 68% of the workforce in the sector already had NQF Level 1 Qualification. To date about 72% of the workforce has NQF 1 level qualification.


Objective 1.2:- By March 2005, a minimum of 15 per cent of workers must have embarked on a structured learning programme, of which at least 50 per cent must have completed their programme satisfactorily.
This target has already been met through training by large companies. About 54 783 workers had gone through structured learning programs in the last two years. The challenge is to ensure full participation of SMME component in the NSDS.


Objective 1.3: By March 2005, an average of 20 enterprises (to include small, medium and large enterprises) and at least five national government departments, must be committed to, or have achieved the Investors in People Standard

One of the largest companies in the sector is participating in the IIP pilot project.

Constraints/Challenges

The ESETA works with 3 shared SGBs. Lack of adequate funding for SGBs is hindering and delaying the process. Therefore, the process of designing standards and qualifications is very slow.

Training is happening in large companies, the biggest challenge in the sector is training of Electrical contractors. The ESETA is in negotiations with the organised part of the electrical contractors, on how this part of industry could be best targeted.

OBJECTIVE 2:

FOSTERING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN THE FORMAL ECONOMY FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND EMPLOYMENT GROWTH


Objective 2.1:-By March 2005, at least 75% of enterprises with more than 150 workers are receiving skills development grants and the contributions towards productivity, and employer and employee benefits are measured.


Currently only about 30% of companies in this category are receiving grants. This picture is skewed by the fact that one of the largest companies in the sector represents around 70% of employment. The ESETA staff is in constant communicating with these organisations
to get them to participate.

Objective 2.2: By March 2005, at least 40 per cent of enterprise employing between 50 and 150 workers must be receiving skills development grants and the contributions towards productivity and employer and employee benefits are measured.

Currently about 30% of companies in this category are receiving grants. The ESETA is in the process of commissioning some research to confirm these figures.


Objective 2.3: By March 2005, Learnerships are available in every sector.

The following Qualifications are registered at SAQA and Learnerships leading to them are registered at DoL. Implementation Pilots are running in different provinces. Its systems go.

General Education and Training Certificate in Basic Technical Practice (Energy) NQF level 1
National Certificate in Electrical Engineering NQF Level 2
National Certificate in Electrical Engineering NQF Level 3
National Certificate in Electrical Engineering NQF Level 4


The following Power Plant Operator/Controller, Hydro and Nuclear Qualifications have been developed by the PPO SGB and have been submitted to NSB06 in November 2002. They are recorded on the NLRD. 9 Learnerships have been submitted to DoL against them.

Certificate in Power Plant auxiliary system operation (NQF 3)
Certificate in Fossil Power Plant operation (NQF 4)
Diploma in Fossil Power Plant process control (NQF 5)
Certificate in Nuclear Power Plant operation (NQF 4)
Diploma in Nuclear Power Plant process control (NQF 5)
Certificate in Hydro Power Plant operations (NQF 4)
Diploma in Hydro Power Plant process control (NQF5)

Under Development

National Certificate in Measurement Control and Instrumentation 2
National Certificate in Measurement Control and Instrumentation 3

The ESETA will be entering into memoranda of agreement (MOU) with 4 SETAs where employers have expressed an interest in registered learnerships of these sectors.

Constraints

Although the identification and registration of learnerships are relatively easy, the development of such is a very complicated and costly exercise, with specific reference to the establishment of Standards Generating Bodies (SGBs) and the writing of unit standards. The major bottleneck or rather hindrance relates to the lack of registered qualifications and unit standards with the South African Qualification Authority.


NSDS OBJECTIVE 3 : STIMULATING AND SUPPORTING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN SMALL BUSINESS


Objective 3.1: By March 2005, at least 20% of new and existing registered small businesses to be supported in skills development initiatives and the impact of such support to be measured.


The electrical contracting industry represents a large portion of SMMEs in the sector. The ESETA has already approved some initiatives to facilitate training and completion of WSPs and ATRs for SMMES. It is anticipated that these initiatives will cover a large percentage of SMMEs.

Constraints.

The major challenge is to identify the electrical contractors.


NSDS OBJECTIVE 5 : ASSISTING NEW ENTRANTS INTO EMPLOYMENT

Objective 5.1: By March 2005, a minimum of 80 000 people under the age of 30 have entered into learnerships

The portion for the E-SETA out of this 80.000 people is 472 people (0.57% of the South African economies employment).

By March 2005, 472 learners are contracted into learnerships by the ESETA.

The ESETA already has 105 learners in learnerships. The ESETA is expecting additional learnership agreements before the end of March 2003. The target of 472 will be exceeded in the next financial year..


Objective 5.2: By March 2005, a minimum of 50% of those who have completed learnerships are, within six months of completion, employed, in full – time study or further training or are in a social development - programme.


By March 2005, 50% of learners will be placed as per NSDS success indicator, i.e. 210 learners.