Matriculants have a mountain to climb making headway in workplace

We need to change our thinking about education and training to tap the wellspring of our people’s potential

Congratulations to all our successful matrics, many of whom battled the odds to get to where they are today. We all know the stats: only about 60% of children starting grade 1 will make it through to matric, and a further 20% or so will fail to sit or pass their final exam. So, we know that these young people are among the fortunate and the hard-working, and they deserve to be celebrated!

The bad news is the odds are still stacked against them. Unemployment among young people is high — 63.9% for those 15-24 years old — so many matrics are likely to struggle to find work in the next few years, and only about a third will go on to study further. Fewer than half of these will, in turn, complete their degree. In fact, research by the University of Stellenbosch’s Nic Spaull finds that out of 100 children who start grade 1, just six will get some kind of qualification within six years of matric, and just four will complete a formal degree.

What’s the big deal about studying further, you might ask? Well, quite simply because it’s correlated with productivity and economic growth, higher earning power, better social outcomes and human happiness. A more educated workforce fosters innovation, and people with higher levels of education are more likely to find and stay in employment, learn new skills, earn more and pay more taxes relative to those with lower levels of education.

There’s a reason more developed countries have a higher percentage of their population holding formal qualifications: 55% in Finland and 50% in the UK versus our 7%. Tertiary qualifications in SA are the lowest across Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development and partner countries and well below the Group of 20 average of 38%.

What this tells us is that we cannot build a vibrant and diversified economy fuelled by informed citizens without education. As things stand, too many talented South Africans arrive in their 30s and 40s without qualifications, working in jobs above their level and feeling stuck and frustrated. This erodes their hope and confidence, their belief in their own intelligence and their capability. And it shows in company performance and results.

So, education must be our number one focus as a country. How can we target that lost 96% and increase the number of young South Africans getting the right qualifications and skills so that they can become active participants in building the businesses that build the country? Not by doing things the same old way, that’s for sure.

We need a revolution in how we think about education and training to ensure that the matrics who have already overcome the odds to be where they are today can carry on making headway. We urgently need to develop alternative — and more practical — routes that allow more young South Africans to access quality education. Traditional universities are great at training elites, but what we further need is a national movement of skilled and confident managers who can get things done in business, and in government.

To get there, I believe education and training institutions in SA, especially those that focus on business education, must focus on the triple-A of access, appropriateness and application if we want to give young people in this country a better chance at success.

We have to lower the barriers to access, which are primarily cost and time. One way to do this is to allow students to study while they continue to work and earn. Flexible study options are therefore critical. We also need more corporates to step up to partner with education and training institutions to elevate the skills levels of their workforces, and we need to make more scholarships available where we can and introduce effective loan schemes such as the “missing middle” loan announced earlier in January by the higher education, science & technology minister. It is also crucial to fix the troubles at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

Second, what we teach must be tailored to the context and needs of the workplace of the future, which is set to be defined by turbulence and uncertainty. Analytical and creative thinking remain at the top of the list of skills needed, but as World Economic Forum MD Saadia Zahidi points out, leadership skills, social influence and the ability to work with other people and get innovative and creative things done in the workplace will also be key.

How we teach will be important. Design and teaching methods will need to be progressive and combine action learning with pedagogy that is academically proven and accredited. We would need to integrate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) into teaching and learning.

Henley Business School programme director Louise Claassen believes technologies such as VR and AR can make intangible and abstract concepts more tangible. This in turn can help shift the conversation around technology from fear and uncertainty to one of possibility and excitement, helping to create adaptive and “anti-fragile” leaders who are equipped to take on future challenges.

Finally, we must make space for the application of what is being learnt. It is in this process of learning and applying, failing and trying again, that people can start to build their resilience and wisdom. This is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. Rather than just seeking to motivate people or give them the high-level theory, we need to give them the ability to try this out as they deal with the challenges they encounter every day at work. Confidence is vital in business as in life, but it can only be attained through actually successfully overcoming challenges and becoming honestly familiar with your strengths and weaknesses.

This is the workplace skills revolution SA needs. Not only would it get people back on the qualification path and boost their hope, abilities and careers, it would tap into the wisdom and experience they have gained on the job, bringing this together to fast-track their skills to another level in real-time, helping them, their companies and the economy.

Education and the profound power of business can transform people’s lives. That is why I firmly believe the highest adrenalin shot we can give our country right now is to radically change the way we think about education and training in the workplace to allow us to tap the wellspring of our people’s potential.

The clock is ticking. As we celebrate our matrics today, we need to understand that they hold the key to all of our futures. Let’s make sure we act now to change the odds decisively in their favour — and ours.