A comparative analysis of technical vocational education and training as an instrument for prosperity attainment in South Africa.

Abstract

Poverty alleviation has been the South African (SA) government’s central policy issue since Apartheid without success. Hence, this study selected a paradigm shift. Instead of focusing on poverty alleviation, the study constructed a positive mirror image of poverty: prosperity attainment. Notably, the SA government has been using job creation as a policy instrument in vain. Some countries have enacted the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) model and used it as a central policy mechanism for poverty alleviation. Yet poverty alleviation is the means to an end, and the end should be prosperity. In South Africa, there is an absence of a holistic policy framework for TVET implementation across basic education, tertiary education, and industry, which makes coordination difficult. Hence, this study explored TVET policies from China, Finland, Germany and Nigeria to assess the best-fit elements. The primary objective of this study was to explore how TVET can be an instrument for prosperity realisation. The challenges that inhibit prosperity are neither linear nor straightforward. Hence, this research explored TVET policies using a qualitative research approach to bring a deep and robust understanding of the complex issue under investigation. This research was ontologically driven by the notion that what transpires in the world is not equivalent to what people see. Therefore, the study adopted critical realism (CR) as a philosophical worldview. Moreover, the study used the case study research strategy to answer the research questions and a systematic review of documents to collect data, which it analysed inductively using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that TVET may enable good governance when curricula are infused with a nationalist ideology, spiritual culture and ethics. Moreover, the results suggest that TVET could enable environmental sustainability by facilitating ecological revolution through incorporating environmental sustainability education. Moreover, a TVET curriculum may likewise facilitate economic sustainability by enabling economic development through entrepreneurship. Lastly, TVET could advance social sustainability by enabling employability, which entails self-employment and industrial employment. The synthesis of findings leads to the conclusion that TVET could enable sustainable socio-economic development, thus enabling prosperity. Based on the findings and conclusions of this study, the researcher recommends that the South African government considers reintegrating basic and higher education to prevent fragmented governance of the TVET model. Bringing the two departments under one ministry could ensure effective and coherent pathways and implementation of TVET. The study further recommends that the National Treasury conducts an expenditure analysis and cost modelling exercise to ensure equitable funding of TVET in rural areas, urban areas, and previously disadvantaged communities. Additionally, the government should consider scrapping the pre-specified generic curriculum across the country and tailoring the curriculum content per student (considering the knowledge and skills the students already possess)—enhancing the students’ career prospects cognitively and innovatively while reducing the learning period.