This study focussed on the development and pilot testing of a research based preemployment
core skills programme for young adults in order to equip them for the
open labour market, to improve the young adults’ knowledge and application of
employment core skills, which in turn could increase the likelihood of securing
employment. This programme can also help to alleviate unemployment and poverty
by contributing to the social development of young adults, enhancing human capital
development, increasing opportunities to reach full educational potential, enhancing
economic development and increasing the opportunity to be self-sufficient and
raising the quality of life.
The motivation for this study is based on the high unemployment amongst young
adults, the lack of intervention programmes that address core skills for employment
for young adults that are making the transition from school to work in South Africa
and the apparent lack of core skills support for young adults at places of
employment. The study was conducted from an ecological systems perspective
which is relevant for the social work profession and to the “help professional” who
engages with young adults. The applied research was used and a quantitative research approach was
undertaken by using self-administered and group-administered questionnaires to
collect data in a standardised way under controlled circumstances with procedures
planned prior to the commencement of the study in order to test a hypothesis. The
study was conducted in two phases namely (A) an exploration of core employment
skills needed by young adults by using a quantitative descriptive survey research
design and (B) the development and pilot testing of a pre-employment core skills
programme for young adults by using a one-group pretest-posttest design to assess
the change in knowledge of core skills of young adults through the deployment of an
intervention of the programme.
The discussion of young adulthood as a life phase highlighted the nature of human
development. The discussion of the different development theories gave a good
indication of what development tasks are of importance during young adulthood and
especially in terms of preparation for entering into the labour market (career).
Unemployment has various impacts on the young adult who in turn has an effect on
the social system and the economy of South Africa.
From the empirical findings of phase A and combining the literature study it became
apparent that young adults who can communicate well, solve problems and work
with others are more employable as they can assume an active, adaptive and
responsible role in the workplace and society. This information was used to develop
a pre-employment core skills programme for young adults. The conceptual
programme model, the experiential learning approach and problem-based learning
were used for the basis of the core skills programme. The aim of the core skills
programme was to enhance the young adults’ knowledge and application of core
skills necessary for employment and their employment opportunities. The findings
from phase B indicate that the developed programme did enhance the young adults’
knowledge of core skills necessary for employment and that the developed
programme can be implemented with young adults between the ages of 18-25 years. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/46168 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Coetzee, Heidemarie Edelgard |
| Contributors | Delport, C.S.L. |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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