Report
of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training on the Further Education
and Training (FET)
The Portfolio
Committee on Higher Education and Training having been invited and participated
at the FET Summit held at Birchwood Conference Centre, Boksburg reports as
follows:
1.
Background to the
Over
400 stakeholders in the Further Education and Training (FET) College sector
gathered at the Birchwood Conference Centre on 3 and 4 September 2010 for
decisive discussions on the future of this crucial component of the post-school
education and training landscape. The FET college subsystem is poised, in its
new location in the post-school education and training system, to be a
significant locus of delivery of vocational and continuing education and
training, with strong links to the industry in order to meet the critical
skills shortage.
The
FET Summit was attended by among others college principals, college councils,
labour, business, teacher unions, Sector Education and Training Authorities
(SETAs), development agencies, Members of the Portfolio Committee on Higher
Education and provincial departments. The
In April, a FET Roundtable brought together
all key role players and stakeholders in the college subsystem to engage in a
rigorous debate informed by an analysis of the challenges facing the colleges.
A high-level steering committee, established at the roundtable and chaired by
Higher Education and Training Director General Professor Mary Metcalfe, was
appointed at the Roundtable and presented its recommendations to the summit for
discussion. These recommendations were developed by intensive work of task
teams and aimed at stabilizing the FET college sub-system and building a
platform for its long-term development.
DELEGATION:
The delegation of the committee consisted of Ms M Kubayi
(ANC), Ms N Gina (ANC), Ms N Magazi (ANC), Ms F Mushwana (ANC) and Mr K Dikobo
(AZAPO). Support staff included: Mr A Kabingesi (Committee Secretary).
2.
Address by Ms N Nxesi: Chief Executive Officer, Education and Training
Development Practices SETA (ETDPSETA)
The
CEO welcomed all the distinguished guests and various stakeholders to the FET
Summit hosted by ETDPSETA in conjunction with the Department of Higher
Education and Training. In her address, she highlighted the following key
issues:
·
The FET colleges and the schooling
system form part of the agenda of SETAs in strengthening of skills development
and building a strong relationship between business and the FET sector.
·
The FET Summit culminated as a result
of the Roundtable in April to ensure synergy in the higher education and
training sector. The Roundtable identified critical issues of the FET sector
which would be seriously debated in the FET Summit.
·
Recommendations of the
3.
Address by Dr B Nzimande: Minister of Higher Education and Training
The
Minister welcomed all distinguished guests to the FET Summit. He expressed his
sincere appreciation to the FET Steering Committee led by the DG for the
excellent work they have done over the past four months in preparing for the
FET Summit. He highlighted that the
The Minister
indicated that the key focus areas of this government in respect of colleges
include but are not limited to:
·
The shift of the function of
managing the college system from provincial to national government.
·
Quality improvements including
increased success and throughput.
·
Increased enrolment of youth
and adults.
·
Closer alignment with skills
development strategies and funding including training partnerships and work
placement.
·
Increasing apprenticeship and
learnerships.
·
The production of quality
artisans as one of the key goals of the FET college sector.
The Minister
went on to state that the President’s 2010 State of the Nation Address
reiterated these themes with particular emphasis on the expansion of access in
the context of the need to develop a skilled and capable workforce to support
growth and job creation. A key challenge is for the sector to grow as rapidly
as possible to be accessible to both young people and adults, but to drive that
growth on a firm basis together with increasing quality in provision. Of the
2.8 million South Africans between the ages of 18 and 24 who were (in 2007) not
in employment, education or training, two million (71%) had not achieved Grade
12. Of these 0.5m (18%) had not progressed beyond primary school. Dr Nzimande
further added that the college community therefore, must expand its horizons
and see the world beyond individual institutions and campuses, whilst at the
same time not losing sight of building each institution as a centre of
excellence. He indicated that the
Dr
Nzimande referred to the difficulties that the FET sector has experienced over
the past few years, which include but are not limited to:
·
Loss of lecturers from
colleges, low morale and a high vacancy rate.
·
Poor learner performances, with
low pass rates and high drop-out rates.
·
Increasing reliance on private
sector for skills training, coupled with a growing loss of confidence in public
sector provision.
·
Institutional instability and
labour instability.
·
Severe financial difficulties.
Dr
Nzimande was of the view that these challenges and complexities must not lead
to further lamentations; instead they should make the sector to focus on
practical and concrete solutions to these problems. The principal task is that
of growing a quality FET college sector; and this is a non-negotiable.
Key activities over the next
five years to improve responsiveness to the needs of the economy will therefore
include the following:
·
Significant expansion of the
FET college sector.
·
Programme offerings will be
expanded, not only strengthening the NCV programmes, but also expanding the N
type programmes, especially to absorb matriculants without university
endorsement.
·
Training partnerships with
industry will be funded through SETAs.
·
Partnerships with employers
will be established.
·
A work placement programme for
graduates of FET colleges will be established.
The
Minister stated that the post-summit processes will be critical. The Department
will inform all colleges of the recommendations of the
4. Higher Education
Prof D
Malaza: CEO, HESA led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues:
·
The challenges in the new post
school education system includes the development of a PSE system to deliver on
a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path and to
coordinate subsystems in HE, FET and SETAs and to deliver on credible
institutional mechanisms for skills planning and access to intermediate and
high level learning.
·
HESA’s strategic commitments
includes, achieving high levels of responsiveness and relevance, promoting a
dynamic evolution of a differentiated HE system and advocating for funding
arrangements that facilitate institutional differentiation.
·
The HESA Task Team on the PSE
system is expected to develop a sector position paper on a PSE system appropriate
for the national development agenda, which will outline the nature of the interface
between HE and the FET sector.
·
Priority issues identified by
the HESA Task Team for further engagements include, curriculum for the FET
college sector (how it links to HE), funding of post school education and
training systems and strategies for increasing post school educational
opportunities.
·
HESA will form a Task Team on the
PSE workshop on 8 October 2010.
·
A capacity development project is in place
through a partnership between the
5. Steering Committee Presentation to the FET Summit
Prof M
Metcalfe: Director-General, Department of Higher Education and Training and
Chairperson of the Steering Committee led the presentation which highlighted
the following key issues:
·
The FET College Roundtable was
convened to identify and address challenges faced by the FET sector. A Steering
Committee consisting of various stakeholders was established to report to the
FET Summit on recommendations of the Roundtable.
·
The key recommendations of the
Roundtable included a new policy vision and legislative framework for the
colleges that should locate the public FET colleges sector within a single
policy and legal framework for compulsory education and training. The policy
should map the relationship between colleges, SETAs and HEIs, and FET colleges
will have a dual mission meaning that they should provide large numbers of
school leavers and out of school youth with access to occupational programmes
that can enhance employability or lead to job creation.
·
In terms of the governance and
legal context the transfer of colleges is the priority of the Department. The
legislation is not likely to be introduced before the end of 2011, therefore
the Further Education and Training Act remains in place.
·
In terms of the way forward,
the Steering Committee will consolidate the FET Summit Report that will be
distributed to all stakeholders and presented to the Minister by 7th
October 2010. The Task Teams will visit all colleges and brief staff regarding
the outcomes of the FET Summit.
6. Consolidated Feedback from Working Groups
a)
Feedback: Policy
Most
of the delegates did not have sufficient opportunity to engage with the Task
Team reports on the policy issue. However, it was argued that the role of the
provinces must be properly articulated if colleges are to be a national
function.
b)
Feedback: Students
It
was recommended that there is need to strengthen student support services and
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) should be prioritized. The student fee
portion for programmes needs to be lowered as poor students cannot afford the
current 20% required.
c)
Feedback: Management of the Employer-Employee Relationship
There
was a general consensus that there should be one employer (DHET) in the FET
sector and an appropriate bargaining council. The review of the National
Certificate Vocational (NCV) should take note of the lecturing staff workload.
A short-term recommendation is the finalization of phase 2 of the new salary
dispensation and permanent appointments of acting positions in FET colleges.
d)
Feedback Programmes
It
was felt that there is a need for a more detailed analysis of the future of the
N programmes and the NCV must be reviewed. A long term recommendation is that
colleges need to be capacitated to offer their full programme quality
management (funding, infrastructure and staff / management capacity).
e)
Feedback: Quality
It
was recommended that there is a need to consider how to introduce a total
quality management system to ensure quality delivery of all programmes and
short courses. A short-term recommendation is the need to improve teaching and
learning. Finalisation of the lecturer qualifications policy was identified as
very critical for lecturer development.
f)
Feedback Funding
There
was a concern about the availability of budget for colleges to perform in terms
of the required mandate. The shortage of funding has led to the crisis in the
sector. There is a need to operationalise the SETA and NSF funding mechanism in
a way that ensures that colleges have the capacity to deliver against their
obligations. There is a need to review the costing model which takes into
account inequities across colleges and budget shortfalls. Colleges must be
capacitated to engage with SETAs and access funds and college financial
management capacity must be improved.
g)
Feedback: Implementation
A
long term recommendation in this regard is the management information system
and the need to undertake a functional analysis of college organograms in order
to promote equity across the system. It was noted that there were very good
recommendations from all Task Teams. However, they lacked the “how” part. More clarity was required in terms of how the
articulation will take place with the Department of Higher Education.
7.
It was noted that change management is a good
idea that has to be seriously considered in FET colleges. However, the
challenge is that there is no clear articulation on performance indicators for
FET college staff.
It
emerged that Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) was not properly articulated
during the discussion sessions and it was urged that the department should set
clear time frames for the implementation of RPL as a priority programme to
accredit people with workplace experience.
It
was highlighted that the issue of one employer in FET colleges is fundamental.
However, with the FET Act as the current legislation for FET colleges, the
proposed legislation should be prioritized to curb the current tensions that
exist in FET colleges.
It
was emphasized that the current funding norms for FET colleges do not set the
balance between growth and quality, and as a result, FET colleges do not meet
their targets.
It
was noted with concern that the FET Act has no articulate definition for
college campuses and as a result, satellite campuses are less prioritized and
resourced.
In
terms of implementation of the
College
Councils are not bargaining forums for FET colleges and the Education and
Labour Relations Council (ELRC) is a bargaining council for the FET sector and
all tensions in colleges are referred to the Council for consideration. It is
against the law that Council members present political interests in Council
forums rather than capacity building to the college.
There
was a general consensus that inadequate student support services have affected
the throughput rate of FET colleges. Work placement tools for graduates’ remain
a challenge for most FET colleges.
The
lack of a clear plan on teacher development for FET lecturers contributes to
the poor pass rate in colleges and the fact that there is less representivity
of college lecturers in the
It
was noted that there will be a national career guidance call centre that will
be aimed at reaching learners from remote rural areas and it will offer career
advice for needy learners.
The
N courses are critical for an occupational pathway and the department will
update them with a view to provide different purposes.
Teaching
and learning should work together and there is a need to understand that
lecturers come from different backgrounds hence they have various weaknesses.
There is a need to understand student’s background and complexities before
making any comparisons.
There
was proposal to move away from school type exams to lecture form exams with a
view to professionalise college lecturers.
In
terms of lecturer development colleges, 28% of lecturers have real workplace
experience and 72% don’t have any. In a recent survey, 45% of college lecturers
indicated that they do not require workplace training.
FET
colleges should enroll learners according to the resources they have. The main
challenge is that most colleges enroll learners without considering the
financial capacity and resources to meet their demands.
SETAs
should not be viewed as money making schemes and they serve as a very important
link between the employer and new entrants in the workplace. There was a
proposal that SETAs should form part of the Task Team that will be visiting all
colleges to present the outcomes of the
8.
Minister’s Closing Remarks
In
his closing remarks Dr B Nzimande: Minister of Higher Education and Training
highlighted the following key issues:
·
There is a need to convene an urgent
meeting of the College Councils to come up with clear proposals of
differentiation with a clear timeframe and a framework for RPL.
·
Articulation of the post school education
challenges is very important to determine the future of this sector. By doing
so, the department will not be lowering standards; rather it will increase to
Post School Education.
·
Artisan training should be priority
training in all FET colleges. There is a need to consider provincial summits to
bring all employers and industry players into one forum.
·
Universities have a very important role
in training and development of lecturers’ even industries. There should be
innovative methods formulated for lecturer development.
·
The expectations of the FET sector and
the review of the N courses are at the centre of the agenda of the department
as it expands. The National Skills Fund (NSF) and SETAs will play a very
important role in the expansion of FET colleges progress.
·
There is a need for a very strong
partnership between private sector and the FET sector.
·
College principals should implement the
·
Fight against corruption at FET
colleges should be prioritized as the sector expands to meet its mandate and
objectives.
9.
Conclusion
The
·
The role of provinces must be unpacked
further if colleges are to be a national competence.
·
The issue of RPL needs to be seriously
addressed and clear timeframes for its implementation should be articulated.
·
The student fee proportion for
programmes needs to be lowered as poor students cannot afford the current 20%
required.
·
There was general consensus that there
should be one employer in the FET sector.
·
There is a need for a more detailed
analysis of the future of the N programmes and the NCV must be reviewed.
·
Lecturer development needs to be
directly addressed and the lecturer qualifications policy needs to be
finalized.
·
Concern was raised about the
availability of budget for colleges to perform in terms of the required
mandate. The NSF and SETAs should assist colleges to access funds.
·
Concern was also raised regarding the
delay in proposed legislation aimed to curb current tensions in colleges.
Report
to be considered