SA employers taking Green Paper on education to heart

South African companies countrywide appear to have taken to heart the principal sentiments of the recently-released Department of Higher Education’s Green Paper on Post School Education and Training.

So concludes Jackie Carroll, CEO of Media Works, the Johannesburg-based adult education and training specialist, who says that since the airing of the Green Paper by the state’s education authorities, her group has been inundated by employers seeking to upgrade the caliber of their employees.

She suggests that several issues arising from the Green Paper have galvanized employers into action:

• an emphasis on competence rather than qualifications for qualifications sake;
• the goal of a foundation that addresses ongoing training needs embodying lifelong learning and continued self-development; and
• a strong focus on further education and training.

“Feedback from our offices throughout South Africa indicates that employers are most interested in Media Works’ Foundation for Learning Competence (FLC) programme,” says Carroll, who characterises it as a “revolutionary initiative” designed to enhance the education levels of school-leavers.

The FLC was piloted last year by the Mining Qualification Authority (MQA), a Sector Education Training Authority (SETA) for the mining and minerals sector. It has since been rolled out to other sectors of the economy.

 “The FLC is a unique training programme and qualification,” says Carroll. “Defined as an occupational qualification, as opposed to an academic qualification, it targets facilitators, who are responsible for delivering learning programmes to learners who intend going into occupational training.”

Meeting the demand in the marketplace, Media Works has completed their development of material for the FLC. “In true Media Works style, this material is available in both the computer assisted and face to face methodologies. It also consists of a very comprehensive facilitator guide, as well as a user friendly learner workbook,” says Carroll very proudly.

Carroll points out that while South Africa’s corporate sector has many jobs waiting to be filled, there is a marked shortage of suitable candidates, largely because:

• The school system is turning out school leavers with poor English and mathematical skills; and
• School leavers regard jobs requiring manual labour as inferior to positions in commerce and industry and to qualifying in professions like medicine, law and accountancy – no matter that they lack the ability to do so.  

“Almost ironically, school-leavers who go through FLC training enhance their chances of gaining positions in the non-mining sectors of the economy. That’s because the aim is for any theoretical or practical skills learned on the course to be applied and practiced as soon as possible in an authentic workplace context.”

Carroll emphasises the importance of the programme being applied not only to early school-leavers but also to existing employees.

“South Africa is faced with great literacy challenges. We need sufficient numbers of qualified facilitators to turn the tide.”