Enabling labour market entry for adults through non-formal education and training for employment in South Africa

Abstract

Adult non-formal education and training (NFET) in South Africa was adopted in 1990 to address the problem of unemployment of non-educated and unskilled adults. Public and private NFET centres aim to meet the training needs of adults who were deprived of formal education that would foster access to opportunities for employment. The paper reports on a study conducted to investigate what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment. The paper focuses on the approach of training delivery fostering labour market entry of graduates. The findings show that individual trainees who participated in private centres had a higher probability of being employed because of the creation of internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and focus on income-generating activities. The authors conclude that an integration of technical skills with business skills and 'learning by earning' is a potential training delivery approach enabling graduates to participate in economic activities.

Lifelong Educational and Decolonization Programs for the Batwa Indigenous People of Southwestern Uganda

“…While lifelong education can certainly help to mitigate many of the injustices suffered by indigenous Batwa, it alone is not a lasting panacea. In contemporary Africa, there is still doubt whether the quality of formal education can enable graduates to acquire relevant and competitive skills for development (Mayombe, 2016;Gumbo, 2020). It goes without doubt that contemporary formal education in Africa is principally scholar academic.…”

3 - Modelling an African Research University: Notes towards an Interdisciplinary, Cross-Cultural and Anticipative Curriculum

“…Furthermore, small-scale farmers contribute 95 per cent of agricultural production and 70 per cent of the population lives in the countryside. There are similar problems in Botswana and South Africa (Mayombe 2016;Moswela and Chiparo 2015;Oladiran, Pezzotta, Uziak and Gizejowski 2013). Mavhunga: Modelling an African Research University Our science does not usher in anything tangible due to the specific circumstances in which it originated, and the notions that technology is an outcome of scientific research and that white men determine what is considered scientific.…”