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Training 2021

International collaboration leads to work-based Learning and Development Practitioner Pilot Programme for South Africa

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), the International Training Centre of the International Labour organisation (ITCILO), South Africa’s Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), Department Higher Education and Training (DHET), the ETDP and industry technical experts recently joined forces to empower a group of South African learners to participate in the first-ever ITCILO designed online programme for South Africa’s Occupational Qualifications. Once designed, the programme will be delivered in the pilot phase by local South African accredited skills development providers as a critical part of the capacity building process.

The target group will be employed or self-employed persons who have experience in the field of skills development with specific expertise in enabling placement of learners in workplaces in South Africa, and also have some experience and knowledge of a dual-based apprenticeship system.

“The uniqueness of this programme lies in the fact that the ILO’s Training Centre in Turin, Italy, is designing the online programme for learners to be able to complete assignments which are both part of, and meet, the South African External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA) require ments. This all falls under the control of the ETDP SETA as the Assessment Quality Partner (AQP),” says Dr Florus Prinsloo, the ILO’s South African skills expert and one of the country’s foremost thought-leaders in the technical vocational educational training field.

Capacitating TVET colleges – a collaborative national drive

The Centres of Specialisation (CoS), is a national programme aimed at building the capacity of the public TVET college system to deliver trade qualifications, while building the much-needed skills for Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) of government’s infrastructure programme.          

The programme which started in 2019 at 26 college sites nationally, provides training in 13 critical trades and occupations that are in short supply for various infrastructure development projects.

Four employer associations including the RMI, are part of this ground-breaking initiative. The involvement of the RMI’s Occupational Team Conveners (OTCs) for the motor and diesel mechanic trades has greatly assisted in the drive to occupational qualifications. “This capacity building process gives all involved the benefit of engagements with TVET colleges that have fully embraced the delivery of occupational qualifications to train young apprentices, provide greater insight into the delivery of the curriculum in line with changing technological demands and pedagogical requirements and greater participation in TVET colleges structures for the CoS,” says Louis van Huyssteen, Training Director for RMI.

Some exciting developments include

In the Centre of Specialisation for the motor mechanic trade at the Athlone campus at the College of Cape Town, the Porsche Aftersales Vocational Education-team (PAVE) from Germany has facilitated the opportunity to add value with high voltage training of facilitators on non-energized and energized vehicles.

College of Cape Town has also rolled out Electude online modules (e-library books and simulators) and the HaynesPro workshop data programme.

The facilitators from the Port Elizabeth TVET College will be involved in this first forward-thinking developmental intervention for the CoS programme.

These online resources from College of Cape Town have been shared with the PE College as well as the OTC for the diesel mechanic responsible for the Mopani South TVET College and the Orbit TVET College.

“We are building the road as we drive on it. The continuous sharing of knowledge and experiences by the RMI’s OTCs helps to address blockages in the TVET system. Both the RMI OTCs are dedicated to resolve challenges as they occur. We have already succeeded on many fronts despite the adverse effect of the pandemic. We have been able to get the Trade Test centres ready for 2022, address phased assessments of the curriculum, identify and plug gaps following the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) first verification inspections, and compile learning material for open-source use by accredited skills development providers for occupational trade qualifications. I am confident we will continue to make encouraging progress,” concludes van Huyssteen.

Read the full story here (Page 22-23): Automobil November 2021 (joomag.com)

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