Further Education and Training
(FET)
Background:
FET consists of all education and training from NQF levels Two to Four, or the equivalent of grades 10 to 12 in the school system and National Technical Certificate One to Three in FET Colleges. Learners enter FET after the completion of the compulsory phase of education at Grade Nine or via the ABET route. The long-term vision of the sector includes the development of a co-ordinated FET system, providing high quality, flexible and responsive programmes and opportunities for a learning society. The short to medium-term focus is on addressing the weaknesses and deficiencies of the current system, at the same time laying the foundations for the kind of system to be built over the next 20 years.
FET is not compulsory education. By definition, it has
no age limit. Its goal is to promote lifelong learning and
education on-the-job.
In keeping with the Report of the NCFE, the Department of
Education's vision of a future FET system is as follows:
Vision:
FET will be an open learning system, responsive to the needs of individuals and communities, and contributing to the development of the country's human resources. It will make flexible, relevant, accessible, high quality FET programmes progressively available to all eligible citizens who are capable of benefiting from them. In so doing, it will promote the development of human talents and abilities, the redress of past inequalities, and the building of a just, democratic and prosperous society.
Mission:
The mission of FET is to foster intermediate to high level skills, lay the foundation for HE, facilitate the transition from school to work, develop well-educated, autonomous citizens and provide opportunities for lifelong learning through the articulation of learning programmes.
FET is provided directly or through distance education by:
- Public schools
- Public colleges
- Independent schools
- Independent colleges
- On-the-job trainers.
FET is also the most complex and diverse phase of
education and training, comprising 13 types of providers,
categorised into four main sectors: secondary schools,
publicly funded colleges, private off-the-job providers and
work-based education and training. Responsibility for FET
largely falls to the national and provincial departments of
education, but the Department of Labour (DoL), other
government departments and private providers including
companies, are also important role players.
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The FET sector holds the greatest potential for unleashing the tremendous talent that can further contribute to socio-economic development and address the endemic problems of poverty, unemployment and crime. Above all, it broadens the horizons of learning, career options and personal efficacy.
Another way to look at the VISION for FET is that it lies at the heart of the integration of our education and training system. FET is to be planned and coordinated as a comprehensive, interlocking sector that provides meaningful educational experiences to learners at the post-compulsory phase. The vision for FET, in brief, is to be a band that provides many different learning opportunities at the intermediate level of knowledge and skill, within different institutional contexts, to different cohorts of FET learners.
In assessing the future of the FET sector we have to
keep in mind the dual nature of the SA economy:
(a) high-skill, high-technology occupations, the so-called
“knowledge workers” driving corporate globalisation and
employing a small segment of workers in the formal economy;
and
(b) small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), which
provide employment for large numbers if the informal economy
is included.
FET will have to play a big role in addressing the needs of
both the above.
Further Education and Training: Quo Vadis? SAQA Bulletin:
Volume 7, No 1
Curriculum development in FET
The FET curriculum is shifting from the traditional divides between academic and applied learning, theory and practice, and knowledge and skills. The new curriculum moves towards a balanced learning experience that provides flexible access to further education, lifelong learning, higher education and training, and productive employment in a range of occupational contexts.
The curriculum is the heart of the education process and therefore a crucial and strategic means of intervention to transform education and training. It is therefore imperative that the FET curriculum be restructured to reflect the values and principles of a democratic society.
FET comprises three different pathways, namely academic, vocationally-oriented and occupation-specific. The curriculum consists of three components of learning, namely, fundamental, core and elective. Curriculum development in FET takes the 12 learning fields of the NQF as its point of departure.
The National Curriculum Statement will consist of
booklets for each learning field, covering learning outcomes
and assessment standards for each grade in the FET phase,
from Grades 10 - 12. The new qualification at Grade 12 will
be referred to as the Further Education and Training
Certificate (FETC).
Further Education and Training: Quo Vadis? SAQA Bulletin:
Volume 7, No 1
A new framework for the future FET system:
- Co-operation and partnerships
- Co-ordination and strategic planning
- Flexibility and responsiveness
- Articulation
- Institutional diversity, and
- Quality of provision
There will be major changes in the FET system to respond to the challenges of meeting basic needs and increasing global competitiveness. The new system will be based on the principles of co-operation and partnerships, co-ordination and planning, flexibility and responsiveness, diversity and quality. These changes will involve new curricula combinations, new learning pathways, greater institutional autonomy, the establishment of a National and Provincial Boards for FET , staff development, quality improvement and quality assurance, a programmes-driven funding framework and a phased implementation plan.
The development of new learning programmes, curricula and qualifications for FET, within the NQF, will be given priority. The emphasis will be on high quality programmes and internationally recognised qualifications which integrate education and training, preparing learners both for work and higher learning. Lifelong learning, with appropriate support services, will be an important goal. The new framework will be based on articulation between programmes, a sound assessment system, and the recognition of prior learning. It will be predicated on the notion that learning outcomes are more important than where learning takes place. To achieve these objectives, the development of new partnerships, together with a programme of institutional and staff development, will be essential.
An entirely new FET funding framework will be developed. This will involve delegated budgets for FET providers, responsiveness to national policy objectives and the market, programme-based funding and a flow of information from providers to funding authorities and learners.
The main funding responsibility of the education departments will be the provision of FET for the pre-employed: 2,2 million learners in some 6400 public schools and 170 public colleges, and 2 million learners, aged 16 to 27, who are outside schools and colleges. This translates into three access challenges: keeping pace with secondary school enrolments, expanding public colleges, and providing new programmes for the out-of-school/college youth.
The new funding approach has three main components:
- Formula funding for recurrent costs, based on FTE students in approved programmes leading to qualifications or parts thereof
- Earmarked funding for specific national policy objectives, and
- User fees related to the ability to pay.
Additional elements include:
- An output incentive based on student achievement of credit/qualifications, and
- Support for learners with additional learning needs.
The new funding framework will for the foreseeable future only apply to public FET colleges, not to senior secondary schools.
Financial responsibility will be increased in accordance with proven institutional capacity.
Funding contracts based on strategic planning and targets will be developed for colleges.
National education authorities, under the leadership and direction of the Minister, and the provincial authorities, under the guidance of the MEC for Education, will oversee the transformation of FET, through the development and co-ordination of national and provincial policies and through the processes of strategic planning.
The social partners, and stakeholders in FET, will have an important role to play in advising on national and provincial policies and plans and in monitoring and reporting on the state of the FET system. New advisory bodies will be established.
The Ministry will take active steps to build institutional, staff and management capacity, in order that all FET providers are enabled to play their full part in a transformed FET system.
The FET college system will be reorganised into two categories: public and private. Powers of self-management will be devolved to public colleges as their capacity is developed. Public colleges will develop strong institutional missions, either as specialised institutions or as broad-based community service institutions.
The new governance and legislative framework for FET will be established, especially through the FET Bill and the NBFET and FET consultative bodies at provincial level.
An FET Strategy must make provision for both Skills Development and Human Resource development
The Skills Development Strategy makes the point that
while responsiveness to demand must characterise a new human
resource development strategy, skills development cannot be
driven solely by short-term, market-led imperatives.
Medium-term planning is required to meet the higher-level
skill demands of the future.
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