Skills development and structural change: Possibilities for and limitations of redressing structural racial inequalities in South Africa

Abstract

Improving structural racial equality for historically-disadvantaged Black South Africans, including low-skilled and unemployed adults and youths, is a pertinent challenge for the South African government during the ongoing transition from apartheid capitalism to post-apartheid capitalism. Within the framework of the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS), the introduction of "learnerships" and "learning programmes", which include structured learning programmes, learnerships, apprenticeships and skills programmes, has had some impact. But emerging theoretical perspectives assert that apartheid structural racial inequalities persist and that structural reform is imperative. Opposing positions translate into two perspectives on social transition: either capitalism can be de-racialised, or capitalism in South Africa should be dismantled in order to de-racialise it. After a review of relevant literature and governmental documents, the author identifies five structural and pedagogical barriers as likely causes for low completion rates of skills development courses and concludes that structural reform needs more favourable political and economic conditions in order to be successful. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2013.

Keywords

Author Keywords

workplace learning skills development South Africa adult education adult learning learnerships Education and inequality Learning programmes Skills development and inequality Skills programmes

Index Keywords

learning workplace curriculum education reform skilled labor returns to education unemployment South Africa structural change racism black population racial disparity

Author Affiliations

Centre for Adult and Continuing Education, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa

Funding & Acknowledgements

National Science Foundation, NSF

Funding text 1: Zelda Groener graduated with a PhD as a Fulbright scholar, specialising in Comparative and International Education, from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1997. She is an Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa, where she held the position of Director of the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education during 2001–2013. Her research interests focus on adult education and social transformation; and on national and international adult education policies. A recent research grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa afforded her a more specific research focus on education and inequality.; Funding text 2: 8 Established in the Skills Development Act in 1998, the National Skills Fund (NSF) is is a fund located within the Department of Labour. The Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) are regional branches of a vocational skills training organisation in South Africa, responsible for managing and creating learnerships, internships, unit-based skills programmes, and apprenticeships within their jurisdiction.

National Research Foundation, NRF

Funding text 1: Zelda Groener graduated with a PhD as a Fulbright scholar, specialising in Comparative and International Education, from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1997. She is an Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa, where she held the position of Director of the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education during 2001–2013. Her research interests focus on adult education and social transformation; and on national and international adult education policies. A recent research grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa afforded her a more specific research focus on education and inequality.; Funding text 2: 8 Established in the Skills Development Act in 1998, the National Skills Fund (NSF) is is a fund located within the Department of Labour. The Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) are regional branches of a vocational skills training organisation in South Africa, responsible for managing and creating learnerships, internships, unit-based skills programmes, and apprenticeships within their jurisdiction.

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Skills development and structural change: Possibilities for and limitations of redressing structural racial inequalities in South Africa

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