While the state’s target of 50 000 artisans by 2014/15 might be optimistic meaningful progress towards maximising artisan training has been made this year.
Addressing delegates to a seminar in Johannesburg yesterday, John Botha, executive director for strategy at Production Management Institute (PMI), said: “The artisan training space has moved away from a period of great uncertainty to one of certainty and clarity.
“This has in turn paved the way for the pace of delivery of qualified artisans into the South African economy to increase.”
Botha attributed this important milestone to three key developments:
- The incorporation of the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) into the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) last year, followed by an overhaul of the SETA landscape and then by key improvements to SETA constitutions and governance structures this year;
- Stronger collaboration between government, business and labour, as well as communities, arising mainly out of the National Skills Accord (NSA) signed in July this year; and
- A multi-pronged strategy to make Further Education and Training (FET) colleges function as high quality institutions that produce critical middle-level skills and are integrated with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF); the general and the higher education landscapes; SETAs; employers – both private and public; and unions.
Said Botha: “SETA boards are far more capacitated – they are stronger, have independent chairpersons and better business, government and labour representation. For example, human resource personnel, that in many instances were representing business, have been replaced by higher-level individuals with stronger business minds. Government representation is now at Ministerial and national levels.
“The DHET’s overall strategy is to put in place a single, cross-sectoral artisan training system and in parallel, do away with sector-specific programmes coupled with SETA-issued certificates of competence. The overhaul of the SETA landscape and the SETAs themselves was thus a crucial first step in rolling out this strategy.”
Meanwhile, business, government and labour committed to training 30 000 new artisans with the recent signing of the NSA. Of this figure, 13% is to come from state-owned companies, 31% from government and the majority – 56% – from business.
Commented Botha: “The NSA focuses on tangible issues and commits all parties to specific deliverables around artisan training.”
As part of the NSA, private companies have committed to ramp-up their training-spend to well over the compulsory 1%-of-payroll training levy, a significant proportion of which will be steered towards the FET colleges.
Botha continued: “DHET has highlighted the production of quality, qualified artisans as a key goal of the public FET sector.
“Having identified weaknesses in this sector at systemic and institutional levels, immediate-impact interventions have been launched to turn colleges around. Other tactics are planned to take effect in the medium- and longer-terms.
“FET colleges have everything going for them to take centre stage in providing the theoretical qualification component of artisan – as well as other occupational training – requirements.”
Botha welcomed the shift of FET college management from regional to national government, as well as a set of multi-pronged initiatives that will ultimately see the 50 public FET colleges spread across South Africa:
- Offer full qualifications;
- Align programme offerings with local and regional industry needs;
- Ensure effective articulation with both general and higher education;
- Improve programme quality;
- Increase enrolment of youths and adults;
- Develop and attract qualified, full-time teaching staff; and
- Create positive perceptions about colleges as institutions of choice for vocational post-school learning.
He went on to applaud the introduction of the Artisan Development Technical Task Team (ADTTT) as well as that of the National Artisan Moderating Body (NAMB), a quality assurance body. He said they had a crucial responsibility to create a standardised apprenticeship-based artisan development programme and to ensure that it is centrally coordinated and monitored.
Botha also welcomed establishment of the Ministerial Task Team charged with improving SETA performance.
Added Botha: “It is worth bearing in mind the artisan-technician-engineer ratios set by industry which indicate that for every eight artisans, three will become technicians and one will become an engineer. These ratios are significant for manpower planning at organisational level, but also at the systemic level.”
In wrapping up, Botha said: “At last there is clarity on the fundamental framework that will guide artisan development going forward. Included here is clarity around the ‘very basics’ such as the four possible routes to becoming an artisan.
“Importantly, this all feeds directly into the NGP and its manufacturing enabler, the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2 (IPAP2), as well as the National Skills Development Strategy III (NSDS III) and the Human Resource Development Strategy of South Africa (HRDSA).
“Of course, there is much work to be done by all stakeholders, but it will be interesting to assess the impact that these measures have on boosting our current output of 5 600 qualified artisans every year to the ideal target of 12 500.”
Production Management Institute (PMI), an accredited a private training company in the Adcorp Holdings stable, currently trains about 5% of the national artisan output.
“In 2011, PMI expects to produce in the region of 1 500 qualified artisans,” added Botha.
Issued on behalf of PMI
For more info. contact:
Alex van Essche@ Meropa
011-506 7300
082-321 1167