South Africa is facing increasing competition as it becomes a more active participant in the
"global village". The current South African skills base is inadequate and existing education
and training structures are doing little to ensure a high degree of flexibility and multi-
skilling. In addition, many people have acquired skills which are not recognised by
traditional, formal learning institutions. Future workforces will require a high degree of
flexibility and multiple skills in order to keep abreast of the fast changing workplace and
technological innovations. Furthermore, vocational training is often perceived as less valuable
than an academic education qualification. It is these, and other issues which stimulated some
debate around the transformation of education and training in South Africa. The recommended
structure to guide this transformation is a national qualifications framework. The National
Qualifications Framework (NQF) will form a backdrop for recognition of and awarding of
qualifications. The Framework aims to integrate vocational and academic qualifications and
maintain internationally comparative standards. This study focusses on the impact the
introduction of the Framework is likely to have on industry. It was discovered that on the
whole, organisations, unions and industry training boards are in agreement about the need for
such a structure and the potential benefits thereof. However, most retain some reservations
about the implementation process and the practical considerations of time and money are
hindering the full acceptance of the Framework. While the process is in its infancy in many
industries, certain other industries are rather well established in the process of
implementation. The Framework is far from finalised, and even once fully implemented, will
require ongoing maintenance and adaptation. For this reason most participants in this
discussion indicated varying degrees of reservation about the overall success of the National
Qualifications Framework. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)- University of Natal, 1997.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/2703 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Botes, Catherine. |
| Contributors | Bobat, Shaida. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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