Bibliography: pages 107-120. / This thesis explores the decline and transmutation of the apprenticeship system in South Africa, specifically as it occurred in the metal and engineering industry. It proceeds to analyse the most basic and influential imperatives which have driven this process. On the side of capital, these imperatives were the inexorable motive for a profit driven industrial organisation and on the side of organised labour, the imperatives to protect skills, jobs and wages. The existence of the one set of imperatives presupposed the need to redefine the existence of the other set. These contradictory imperatives have shaped the trajectory of the apprenticeship system in South Africa. They were contradictory because the one was an impediment on the untrammelled extension of the other. However, as the imperative of profit maximisation gradually became the predominant consideration in the relationship, it began to exert greater pressure on the character of the apprenticeship system. Within the apprenticeship training system, the imperative of profit maximization prioritised price calculation as the dominant consideration by which decisions and trajectories were chartered. Since the state mediated the relationship between the various economic interests in society, its interventions merely curtailed a more rapid consolidation of the effects of a profit driven industrial organisational imperative, within the apprenticeship training system. The triumph of the profit maximization imperative, systematically eroded the system of apprenticeship training in the metal and engineering industry of South Africa. An institutional inertia within the South African state resulted in the manifestation of erosive effects within institutions of the state empowered with governing and managing human resources development. This institutional inertia within the state was an accompaniment to the broader erosion of the apprenticeship training system at the workplace.

This paper is prepared in two sections. The first section is a summation of the opinion of leading educators, and others, in the area of vocational industrial education, as regards management, labor and the public schools' responsibility for the administration of an efficient program of training apprentices for the skilled trades. The second section--which is an appendix to the paper--is prepared in the form of a handbook. The objective of this handbook is an attempt to follow the thinking of these persons by condensing and coordinating the essential ideas of their writings and experiences and compiling a practical, usable teacher training guide for instructors of apprenticeship classes. The specific objective of the handbook is to improve instruction. It will be used for both pre-service and in-service teacher training. / Typescript. / "August, 1961." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Edward K. Hankin, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-36).

A research report submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research Johannesburg, February 2018. / Worldwide, various governments have taken significant measures to promote vocational education in an attempt to position it as an equal alternative to academic education. The problem, however, is that in many countries neither young people nor their parents perceive vocational education as having the same value as academic education (Allais, Marock, & Molebatsi, 2014). This is in contrast to Continental European countries, such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland where approximately two thirds of youth completing general schooling each year select vocational education over university education. South Africa a country in which vocational education is extremely stigmatized, is reforming its apprenticeship system and has set itself a target of qualifying 24 000 new artisans by 2020 (DHET 2015). Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are viewed as key vehicles through which large numbers of artisans can be trained. However, employers do not have trust in the quality and capacity of public TVET colleges and have taken responsibility for training artisans through their own in-house training facilities and private training providers (National Treasury n.d.). The result is that TVET colleges have been side-lined in the supply chain for artisan development. It is against this background that the South African government is piloting a dual system apprenticeship project, which aims to: a) improve the quality of artisan training at public TVET colleges; b) build employer trust in the quality of the public artisan training system; and c) position TVET education as an attractive option for young people. This research is focused on apprentices training to become electricians through a dual apprenticeship model. The dual system integrates classroom theory with on-the-job instruction thus ensuring that learning is integrated and regularly reinforced. Through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire, this study brings the voices of 95 electrical apprentices to bear in order to develop a much deeper, richer and nuanced understanding of how apprentices experience the artisan development system. It seeks to understand what motivates young people to enrol at a TVET college, and what apprentices’ experiences, perceptions and expectations are of dual system apprenticeships. The study provides insights into the merits and challenges of dual system apprenticeships within the South African context. / XL2019

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In the literature, much has been reported about skill shortages in the labor market and many solutions have been suggested but most of them do not appear to work well for developing countries. This study investigated the place of portable technical skills as an option for addressing skill shortages, particularly in developing countries. The objective of the study was to determine whether different occupations have portable technical skills, which graduates of workforce development programs can carry with them as they transfer from one occupation to another. Although in the literature the importance of portable skills has been recognized, research has tended to focus on the portability of soft skills such as communication and problem-solving. This study is unique in that in addition to soft skills, it explores the existence and usefulness of portable technical skills such as maintenance of equipment and use of hand tools. The study methodology comprised analysis of documents followed by focus group discussions with instructors and employers. The researcher examined competency lists drawn from three different occupational clusters, taking three occupations in each cluster. Analysis of correlation between pairs of occupations in each cluster revealed the existence of portable technical skills within occupational clusters. For example, within the Mechanical Engineering cluster, there were 504 technical skills that Fitting and Machining had in common. Furthermore, the study discovered 152 technical skills that were portable across all the occupations in the sample. According to an instructors' focus group, one of the pedagogical implications of the findings of this study was that training institutions could promote inter-disciplinary collaboration through joint preparation of syllabi and team-teaching. An employers' focus group confirmed that portable technical skills have long been used effectively and efficiently in the Informal Micro-Enterprise sector and training providers should, therefore, promote the teaching of portable technical skills with special emphases on entrepreneurship development to make students more flexible in their career development. In addition to policy recommendations for the promotion of portable technical skills, the study recommends that further studies should be done to determine the full extent of portable technical skills across a wider range of occupations. / Ph. D.

The average age of principal farm operators rose from 50.3 years in 1978, to 57.1 years in 2007, as farmers retire and new farmers do not enter farming (NASS, 2013).With declining numbers of entrants into farming, agricultural educators and service providers must better understand strategies for effectively preparing beginning farmers. On-farm apprenticeships in the U.S. show promise as a means to prepare farmers and are increasing in number (Niewolny and Lillard, 2010). Lave (1988) writes 'knowledge-in-practice, constituted in the settings of practice, is the locus of the most powerful knowledgeability of people in the lived-in world' (p. 14). Thus, farming, as a complex set of interwoven skills, is best learned in situ, as situated learning. On-farm apprenticeships therefore may allow learners to construct knowledge in context, and build identities as farmers. In this thesis, I share findings from a mixed methods study that explored what kinds of on-farm apprenticeships are available, and to whom; and important educational practices, structures, and institutions that support on-farm apprenticeship learning. This study comprises data from a survey (N=45) of Virginia farmers who host apprentices, and interviews (N=12) with farmers and on-farm apprentices. Findings describe who undertakes on-farm apprenticeships, and suggest that apprentices develop expert identities through situated learning with farmers. Findings describe how farmers participate as educators, and how farms function as sites of situated learning. This study also found that on-farm apprenticeships are embedded within alternative food movements, with social reproduction potentially occurring. I also explore broader implications for preparing beginning farmers. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

On-farm apprenticeships are gaining momentum as an important strategy for beginning farmer training. They are also a space for identity work and rehearsal of alternative agrifood movement practice (AAMs; MacAuley and Niewolny, 2016; Pilgeram, 2011). AAMs embody and recursively construct values of biophysical sustainability, food quality, egalitarianism, and agrarianism (Constance, Renard, and Rivera-Ferre; 2014). However, AAMs have been critiqued for disproportionately representing upper- to middle-class white cultural norms (Allen, 2004; Guthman, 2008a; Slocum, 2007), for romanticized agrarian ideology (Carlisle, 2013), and for mechanisms reproductive of neoliberalism, which buttresses the dominant agrifood system (Guthman, 2008b). These AAM discourse elements are expressed in on-farm apprenticeships. On-farm apprenticeships are variably understood as beginning farmer training (Hamilton, 2011), as inexpensive farm labor (MacAuley and Niewolny, 2016; Pilgeram, 2011), and as sites of tension between economic and non-economic attributes (Ekers, Levkoe, Walker, and Dale, 2016). I illuminate these dynamics within on-farm apprenticeships through the complementary theoretical lenses of cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 1999), cognitive praxis (Eyerman and Jamison, 1991), and cultural identity theory (Hall, 1996). I employ critical ethnographic case study methodology to explore issues of power, social reproduction, and equity. I conducted 53 days of participant observation, worked alongside 19 apprentices on six farms for 37 days, conducted interviews (n=25), and completed a document analysis (n=407). I observed white spaces and class-based work values re/produced, mediated by AAM discourse. Furthermore, I observed three distinct objectives within the activity system: beginning farmer training, inexpensive labor for farms, and an authentic farm lifestyle experience. In contrast to the first two, this third objective, the authentic lifestyle, resists market-based logics. Instead, logics that did govern behavior include membership in a movement; an ascetic bent; the valorization of farmers and the authentic farm lifestyle; alignment with clean, healthy, and dirty parts of the job; and communitarianism. These logics point towards the creation of a third type of nonmarket/quasimarket space (Gibson-Graham, Cameron, and Healy, 2013). I describe several considerations for on-farm apprenticeship to lead to greater equity, reproduction of viable small farm labor models, and stabilized and legitimate nonmarket understandings of what makes on-farm apprenticeship function. / Ph. D. / On-farm apprenticeships are gaining momentum as an important strategy for beginning farmer training. They are also a space where people express and craft their identities as members of the alternative agrifood movement. Alternative agrifood movements promote the environment, food quality, egalitarianism, and agrarianism, but may be more culturally relevant for upper- to middle-class white social groups. They also promote romanticized notions of farming and agrarianism, while supporting neoliberal dogmatic approaches to social change. On-farm apprenticeships are treated as beginning farmer training, or cheap/free labor, and as sites of tension between economic and non-economic attributes. I examined this scenario using cultural historical activity theory, cognitive praxis, and cultural identity theory. With critical ethnographic case study methods, I conducted 53 days of participant observation, worked alongside 19 apprentices on six farms for 37 days, conducted 25 interviews, and examined 407 documents. I observed how whiteness and class-based work practices are being mediated by AAM discourses. Furthermore, I observed three distinct objectives for participants’ involvement in on-farm apprenticeships: (1) beginning farmer training, (2) cheap labor for farms, and (3) having an authentic farm lifestyle experience. In contrast to the first two, this third objective, the authentic lifestyle, defies the rules of economics/neoliberalism. Instead, behavior appeared to be governed by: membership in a movement; an ascetic bent; the valorization of farmers and the authentic farm lifestyle; alignment with clean, healthy, and dirty parts of the job; and communitarian values. These rules point towards the creation of a nonmarket/quasimarket space. This study highlights how on-farm apprenticeship can be tweaked to promote greater equity, reproduce viable small farm labor practices, and stabilize and legitimize a nonmarket understanding of the ins and outs of on-farm apprenticeships.

No description available.

This qualitative research investigated the implementation problems of apprenticeship training program in the Addis Ababa TVET colleges and enterprises. The research looked into the training program conducted by TVET Colleges and enterprises. Relevant literature on the nature of apprenticeship training and the factors that could affect its implementation were also reviewed. The research applied the theoretical statement of Bandura’s (1977) theory of observation /imitation/, Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD, contextual or the situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991), the constructivist view of learning and career theory as the main theoretical frameworks to describe the apprenticeship training process. The theories, however, do not mention the factors that can hamper the implementation of apprenticeship training in a specific social context. The theory of observation was preferred since it can describe the apprentice’s effort to master the skill of an occupation by observing the craftsman at the enterprises. The situated learning was preferred as it gives value to practice as a condition for the effectiveness of learning. Similarly, the research considered Vygotsky’s theory of the ZPD. The application of ZPD indicates the difference between what the apprentice can accomplish independently and what he/she can do with the close assistance of supervisor on a given task. Holland’s career theory (as cited in De lary, Duncan & Swarth, 2006) is also considered to describe the apprenticeship training in relation with an occupation. The current research has enabled to consider context specific conditions by focusing on the investigation of the causes of the implementation challenges of the apprenticeship training. The researcher collected data from Addis Ababa TVET Agency experts, deans of one private and another public TVET Colleges, college apprenticeship training coordinators, trainers, trainees, supervisors and enterprises by employing unstructured and structured interviews, observation and Focus Group Discussion tools. The analysis was made by making the data pass through three successive steps: data reduction, data display and interpretation, and conclusion. The findings showed that the implementation of the apprenticeship training program had challenges that could be shared among its actors; Trade Unions had no involvement in the implementation of the apprenticeship training program; the selected colleges and enterprises addressed their challenges by using limited strategies and without regular and systematic way; the presence of some less motivating factors for the participation of the apprentices in the apprenticeship training was reported; the presence of conditions that could adversely affect the apprentices’ acquisition of occupational skills was reported; the provision of apprenticeship training at the enterprises lack, either facilities or training services, in order to arrange the apprenticeship training program for TVET college trainees; and there were some indications for the presence of some weak professional qualities of supervisors that have implications for the apprentices’ training. Eventually, it was concluded that the implementation of apprenticeship training program in the Addis Ababa TVET Colleges and enterprises had challenges that require the consideration of both institutional and human conditions. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

This qualitative research investigated the implementation problems of apprenticeship training program in the Addis Ababa TVET colleges and enterprises. The research looked into the training program conducted by TVET Colleges and enterprises. Relevant literature on the nature of apprenticeship training and the factors that could affect its implementation were also reviewed. The research applied the theoretical statement of Bandura’s (1977) theory of observation /imitation/, Vygotsky’s theory of ZPD, contextual or the situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991), the constructivist view of learning and career theory as the main theoretical frameworks to describe the apprenticeship training process. The theories, however, do not mention the factors that can hamper the implementation of apprenticeship training in a specific social context. The theory of observation was preferred since it can describe the apprentice’s effort to master the skill of an occupation by observing the craftsman at the enterprises. The situated learning was preferred as it gives value to practice as a condition for the effectiveness of learning. Similarly, the research considered Vygotsky’s theory of the ZPD. The application of ZPD indicates the difference between what the apprentice can accomplish independently and what he/she can do with the close assistance of supervisor on a given task. Holland’s career theory (as cited in De lary, Duncan & Swarth, 2006) is also considered to describe the apprenticeship training in relation with an occupation. The current research has enabled to consider context specific conditions by focusing on the investigation of the causes of the implementation challenges of the apprenticeship training. The researcher collected data from Addis Ababa TVET Agency experts, deans of one private and another public TVET Colleges, college apprenticeship training coordinators, trainers, trainees, supervisors and enterprises by employing unstructured and structured interviews, observation and Focus Group Discussion tools. The analysis was made by making the data pass through three successive steps: data reduction, data display and interpretation, and conclusion. The findings showed that the implementation of the apprenticeship training program had challenges that could be shared among its actors; Trade Unions had no involvement in the implementation of the apprenticeship training program; the selected colleges and enterprises addressed their challenges by using limited strategies and without regular and systematic way; the presence of some less motivating factors for the participation of the apprentices in the apprenticeship training was reported; the presence of conditions that could adversely affect the apprentices’ acquisition of occupational skills was reported; the provision of apprenticeship training at the enterprises lack, either facilities or training services, in order to arrange the apprenticeship training program for TVET college trainees; and there were some indications for the presence of some weak professional qualities of supervisors that have implications for the apprentices’ training. Eventually, it was concluded that the implementation of apprenticeship training program in the Addis Ababa TVET Colleges and enterprises had challenges that require the consideration of both institutional and human conditions. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)