An exploration of articulation from TVET colleges to universities and the world of work.

Abstract

This thesis focuses on ways in which the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College sector articulates with universities and the world of work in South Africa, and draws on TVET research in Southern Africa as a comparative dimension. The definition of articulation used in South Africa’s 2014 articulation policy is Articulation refers to the mechanisms that enable student mobility within and among the institutions that comprise the tertiary system, for example, academic credit accumulation and transfer, recognition and equivalence of degrees, recognition of prior learning, and so forth (N’gethe et al. 2007, xvii). There has been a strong education and training policy focus on articulation since the advent of democracy in South Africa, both as a form of redress and as a mechanism for ensuring that the labour force was transitioned into the opening global economy. My interest in producing this thesis was to ascertain how this policy commitment to articulation arose and how the implementation of articulation within South Africa’s post-school education and training sector occurred in practice. The thesis is presented in the form of an Introduction chapter, five journal articles, a co-authored book chapter, and a Research findings and Conclusion chapter. The Introduction chapter outlines the contextual background for this study, as well as commissioned research that led to the production of the academic articles included in this dissertation. The research findings and conclusion chapter groups these research findings into key thematic areas and reflects on the use of these theoretical frameworks for future articulation research. This dissertation has drawn on a range of theoretical frameworks to analyse ways in which articulation of TVET Colleges with universities and the world of work has been framed and implemented. A central argument made within the thesis is that current policy definitions of articulation tend to focus on institutional mechanisms rather than theoretical and historical features that have shaped post-school articulation to further study and the world of work.