Education and skills training are proven remedies in overcoming poverty and unemployment and creating equitable, prosperous and sustainable economies. The government has recognised the critical role post-school education plays in ensuring South Africa realises Vision 2030 which has set a lofty target of 1.25 million student enrolments in Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions by 2030. While considerable success has been achieved in enrolment rates, student throughputs at these institutions are weak; on average, only 20% of all students who enter these institutions graduate with a qualification. However, despite all these challenges, there is also reason to be optimistic. The dramatic impact of technology on the world today; how we learn and connect with others and the affordability and accessibility of mobile devices have meant that knowledge acquisition is now available to almost everyone. The purpose of this case study is to explore how mobile technology can be used to enhance the learning experience for students at post-school institutions such as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. Research participants are drawn from False Bay College in the Western Cape. These 50 young people ranged in age from 18 to 29 years and are split across two study disciplines; namely, Travel and Tourism, and Hospitality. A qualitative case study is conducted, using an inductive approach in a constructivist paradigm. Different data sources (observations, interviews, and WhatsApp group chats) were used to provide an understanding of how mobile technology made the learning experience richer and more rewarding to participants. Data were analysed using Thematic Analyses. The findings indicate that participants feel positive about the use of mobile technology for learning as well as its contribution to the enrichment of their overall learning experience. The accessibility of the technology used in the study, as well as the accessibility afforded by the technology (access to experts, rewards, support services, and industry information) were considered by participants to be the main contributory reasons for the positive enhancement of their learning. However, factors that detract from the use of mobile technology for learning are also listed. Given the increased focus on improving TVET graduate throughput rates, against a backdrop of cost-cutting and demands for a workforce armed with 21st Century skills, educational leaders need to further explore and better understand how ubiquitous technology, like mobile phones, can be used to enhance learning for students to be better equipped to meaningfully participate in the knowledge economy.

Doctor Educationis / The central concern of this study has been to determine the effectiveness or otherwise of a combined Dialogical Argumentation Instructional Method (DAIM) and the Assessment for Learning Model (DAAFLIM) strategies in enhancing Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students’ conceptions of selected scientific topics. The extant literature has shown that students often hold other worldviews or funds of knowledge, which might be in conflict with canonical school science. In light of this, DAAFLIM has been chosen for a number of reasons: (1) it has been shown to be effective for revealing students’ scientific and alternative worldviews; (2) it provides the learning environment that encourages students to express themselves freely, exchange views with others, reflect on what they have learned, and even to change their minds in the face of stronger arguments; (3) it is compatible with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) curriculum which emphasizes that educators should integrate school science with students’ indigenous knowledge as a way to make the former more relevant to their sociocultural environment; (4) assists educators to plan instruction in accordance with the needs of multicultural science classroom; and (5) the combination of classroom discourses with continuous or formative assessment (as exemplified by DAAFLIM), instead of the usual terminal summative assessment, tends to mitigate the fears that students usually associate with assessment. Specifically, a group of TVET students i.e. the Experimental group (E-group) was exposed to DAAFLIM while the other group i.e. the Control group (C-group) was exposed to traditional instruction method (TIM).

The purpose of this research was to do applied study to investigate TVET teacher education in Sudan in a bid to rebuild and raise the capacity of the teachers and trainers who are working in the technical schools and vocational training centers in Khartoum state, and to generalize the overall results throughout the Sudan. Specifically, many research questions were addressed to target the main purpose of the study: To what extent the practical components of curriculum are applied in and outside TVET institutions? To what extent the in-service training’s programs meet the professional development of teachers and trainers? Is the private sector contributes to the training programs? Which approaches could be implemented to improve the teacher training? To what extent the integration of ICTs in learning and teaching process improves competence of TVET teachers? Is there re-training program for old teachers? Is there need to train teacher in private sector workshop? Moreover: the following concepts are relevant to raising the capacity building of teachers are studied: teacher professional development, capacity building, integration of suitable level of information and communication technology (ICT) to teacher education and the connectivity of training process to world of work. In order to collect convenient information, the study used the questionnaire and interview as instruments to achieve the objectives of the research. The main population of the study is teachers, trainers, administrators and employers. With respect to data analysis, the study used the SPSS program and the Chi-square to test some hypotheses. The results of the study showed that essential innovations and reforms on the initial and in-service training programs should be done especially, respect to practical components of the initial and in-service training to reach the professional development for teachers. Since most of interviewees confirmed old curricula of the initial education of teacher and there was no retraining program for the teacher on the job: the linkage of the training to world of work is needed to keep the teacher up-to date. Integration of ICT into learning/teaching process is very important factor because it’s one of the modernization requirements; hence if we do not do this now it should be urgent necessity at the near future. Major result of the study the proposed training approach for TVET teachers in Sudan, whereas implementation of this approach depends on three levels: macro- level the political commitment by undertaking clear national policy and conceptual framework for technical and vocational education and improving the image of teachers, their work conditions and media involvement. Meso-level:(public and private sector): since a moral contribution towards training of TVET teachers should be realized, by providing real opportunity to make a success to this new training approach by means of offering technical support, technical consultation, advanced knowledge, specialized seminars and contributing of all training policies especially the financial cost. Micro-level (TVET institutions): there is vital role of administrators to play to attract best candidates not only students of low grades to TVET domain. For example, integrate simple level technology into curricula. Improve initial and in-service training programs based on training needs assessment. Create good internship, and improving the work environment and incentives for teachers.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The main objective of this research is to understand workplaces as learning environments. More specifically, the research explored how a TVET college affords opportunities for lecturers for learning through participation in work activities with guidance and support for learning on the job from peers and more experienced colleagues. The research also explored factors which enable or constrain their learning and how they elected to engage with workplace affordances for learning. Drawing on data gathered through analysis of national and institutional policies and semi structured interviews this paper argues that The TVET College does offer opportunities for learning on the job for lecturers. The TVET College affords opportunities for participation in authentic work activities through which lecturers can develop knowledge and understanding of the practices which are relevant and applicable to their particular work context. It is also evident that guidance and support from peers and more senior colleagues are available to lecturers, both less and more experienced. Practices which could become elements of a strategy for co-participation and learning through work do exist at The TVET College. However, there are also limitations and it cannot be argued that intentional strategies for learning exist at The TVET College which can be seen as aspects of workplace pedagogy and workplace curriculum. Finally it is clear that TVET colleges are seen primarily as sites of learning for students; there is little focus on TVET colleges as sites for workplace learning for lecturers. This is an under-researched area in the policy and academic literature on TVET colleges and it is hoped that this study has made a contribution, even if a small one, to filling this gap.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / This paper focuses on an investigation into adult students, experiences related to access, barriers to participation and success at a TVET college in the Western Cape. Through recognition of prior learning (RPL) many adult students have gained access to TVET colleges to obtain a qualification as educare practitioners. Many educare practitioners have worked in the ECD field for many years without a qualification. RPL provides an opportunity for these practitioners to upskill themselves and more importantly uplift themselves, giving them hope for a better future. The RPL offers adult students hope of advancement amidst challenging circumstances experienced in the past, thereby changing the tide in the latter years of their lives.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The study investigates a Western Cape Technical Vocational and Education and Training (TVET) college internship programmes and how the curriculum prepare students for the workplace. The research utilizes and applies the Human Capital Theory (HCT) to student employability and college internships to generate new theoretical insights into the possibilities and limitations of an internship in preparing college students for the workplace. The study is motivated by observations of students in the workplaces who had completed the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) course with regard to hospitality and office administration who were participating in its associated internships. The research question underlines the relationship between the NCV qualification, HCT and internships.

The purpose of this research was to do applied study to investigate TVET teacher education in Sudan in a bid to rebuild and raise the capacity of the teachers and trainers who are working in the technical schools and vocational training centers in Khartoum state, and to generalize the overall results throughout the Sudan. Specifically, many research questions were addressed to target the main purpose of the study: To what extent the practical components of curriculum are applied in and outside TVET institutions? To what extent the in-service training’s programs meet the professional development of teachers and trainers? Is the private sector contributes to the training programs? Which approaches could be implemented to improve the teacher training? To what extent the integration of ICTs in learning and teaching process improves competence of TVET teachers? Is there re-training program for old teachers? Is there need to train teacher in private sector workshop? Moreover: the following concepts are relevant to raising the capacity building of teachers are studied: teacher professional development, capacity building, integration of suitable level of information and communication technology (ICT) to teacher education and the connectivity of training process to world of work. In order to collect convenient information, the study used the questionnaire and interview as instruments to achieve the objectives of the research. The main population of the study is teachers, trainers, administrators and employers. With respect to data analysis, the study used the SPSS program and the Chi-square to test some hypotheses. The results of the study showed that essential innovations and reforms on the initial and in-service training programs should be done especially, respect to practical components of the initial and in-service training to reach the professional development for teachers. Since most of interviewees confirmed old curricula of the initial education of teacher and there was no retraining program for the teacher on the job: the linkage of the training to world of work is needed to keep the teacher up-to date. Integration of ICT into learning/teaching process is very important factor because it’s one of the modernization requirements; hence if we do not do this now it should be urgent necessity at the near future. Major result of the study the proposed training approach for TVET teachers in Sudan, whereas implementation of this approach depends on three levels: macro- level the political commitment by undertaking clear national policy and conceptual framework for technical and vocational education and improving the image of teachers, their work conditions and media involvement. Meso-level:(public and private sector): since a moral contribution towards training of TVET teachers should be realized, by providing real opportunity to make a success to this new training approach by means of offering technical support, technical consultation, advanced knowledge, specialized seminars and contributing of all training policies especially the financial cost. Micro-level (TVET institutions): there is vital role of administrators to play to attract best candidates not only students of low grades to TVET domain. For example, integrate simple level technology into curricula. Improve initial and in-service training programs based on training needs assessment. Create good internship, and improving the work environment and incentives for teachers.

The general objective of the study was to assess the existing practices and major factors affecting the design and development of Ethiopian TVET curriculum and explore considerations to be taken to design and develop TVET curricula that befit Ethiopia. The purpose of the study was to explore and understand the meanings TVET practitioners and stakeholders of Ethiopian TVET programme credited to the practices of TVET curriculum design and development in Ethiopia. Hence, the study employed qualitative research approach in phenomenological design and was undertaken within the interpretive paradigm to understand the lived experience of the curriculum designers, developers and implementers in Ethiopia. Accordingly, three regional states of Ethiopia were selected and one government-run TVET college from each regional state, i.e. a total of three TVET Colleges were taken as sample representatives for the study using purposive and convenience sampling methods. The study was delimited to the practices of curriculum design and development of the building construction fields of study. This is because firstly, it is impossible to encompass all available TVET fields of training in the study; secondly, building construction technology sector is one of the those sectors which much focus is given to by the government of Ethiopia and thus is the training fields found in abundance in the country. Two data gathering tools were mainly used to gather information in this study. These were interviews and document review. Therefore, the researcher first reviewed different related literature and strategic documents to understand the background of the problem and to see what has been done in reference to the problem. Accordingly, working and policy documents such as TVET strategies, guidelines, manuals, legislation, curriculum frameworks and guides, as well as Education Sector Development Programmes and other written documents and related literature to TVET curriculum design and development that were available at federal, regional and TVET college levels were reviewed and analysed. Other countries experiences visa-a-vis TVET curriculum design and development were also reviewed and used as sources of information. The interviews were held with curriculum development officials at the Federal TVET Agency and sampled Regional TVET Agencies as well as principals, heads of department and trainers from sampled TVET colleges that were providing training in the fields of building construction works. The interview participants were two TVET curriculum development officials from Federal TVET Agency, three TVET curriculum development officials from three sampled regional TVET Agencies, three TVET college principals from three sampled TVET colleges, three heads of department of building construction work fields from three sampled TVET colleges, and three trainers of building construction work fields from three sampled TVET colleges. Accordingly, it could be investigated from the study that the way outcome based TVET system is perceived and eventually executed and the processes and steps that were followed in order to design and develop TVET curriculum in Ethiopia had impact on present TVET curriculum developed . Besides, the way other countries’ experiences were espoused and adapted led to inappropriate curriculum design and development approach. Moreover, the Ethiopian TVET System following only one Curriculum development approach for designing and developing TVET curriculum for all trades, blue and white collar work-related-vocational education and training resulted in non-beneficial TVET curriculum. It was also noted from the study that the wrong perception of stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities in curriculum development activities led to TVET curriculum development with improper training content selection and unfair training time allotment, which in greatly impact on the TVET curriculum implementation and training delivery. Therefore, the study suggested that the curriculum that addresses individual, societal and employers’ needs should be designed and the labour market demand analysis needs to be undertaken before OS mapping is designed. In doing so, it is recommended that Ethiopia should benchmark itself against best practices of various developed and developing countries which have succeeded in outcome-based TVET system and when TVET system is adopted from other countries, it should be with tangible reasons and justifications. Furthermore, it is recommended that attention should be paid to practical training programmes and a combination of practice and theory time should be provided for all course types. In addition, the environmental situation of the country and the degree of importance of each unit of competence for employment and self-employment need to be considered. / Educational Studies / Ph. D. (Comparative Education)

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The National Certificate Vocational (NCV) programme was designed with multiple agendas, among which was to address the high unemployment among the South African youth, to produce students with an employable skills set as well as it being a vehicle for redress. Managing diversity within education speaks to this agenda of redress. This study investigated diversity within a technical vocational education and training (TVET) college, by exploring the teaching and learning challenges Life Orientation college lecturers face when teaching diverse student population. It considered the background to the TVET sector as well as the learning programme, the NCV, that provided the context for the study. Various literature on diversity was reviewed as well as literature on teaching diverse cohort of students. The investigation was approached from a social justice perspective. The data revealed a number of themes, the first of which was Conceptions of Diversity within the TVET college context as well as Lecturer Strategies to cope with student diversity. Not all lecturer strategies were successful in dealing with diversity-related tensions; this led to the theme Issues and Incidents related to Student Diversity. The concluding theme was participant suggestions for Lecturer Preparation to deal with issues of diversity. In turn, these themes informed the recommendations which include all three key elements in the education process, i.e policy and curriculum, lecturer training and development, and equally important, the student involvement in diversity programmes and strategies within the TVET college.

The primary aim of the investigation was to explore the entrepreneurship intent (EI) of South African TVET students by applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Additional factors (demographics, community valuation, prior exposure to entrepreneurship and COVID-19 perceptions) were included as control variables within the model to assess the utility of the TPB. Student participants (N = 128) completed an online survey administered through two institutions in the Western Cape and made available by a Facebook link. The application of the TPB model scales was strongly supported by the results of the exploratory factor analyses (EFA) conducted as well as reliability analyses. Regression analyses indicated that the Theory of Planned Behaviour explained approximately 80% of the variance in entrepreneurial intention (p < .001). However, only attitudes were a significant determinant of entrepreneurial intention, whereas subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were not significant determinants of EI. Moreover, the control variables (demographic factors, community valuation, prior exposure to entrepreneurship) did not explain significant variance in EI, with the exception of COVID-19 perception, which was a significant determinant (β = .259, t = 3.159, p < .05). Hayes (2018) PROCESS macro was thereby used to investigate the moderation effect of COVID-19 perceptions, which were found to significantly moderate the relationship between perceived behavioural control and entrepreneurial intention. The contributions of the investigation are discussed and recommendations for future research are presented.