Call for urgent new approach to further education
THERE is an urgent need for a national education and training skills outreach programme for grades 11 and 12, to curb unrealistic university education expectations and provide the critical vocational training needed in the country’s job market.
This is according to professor emeritus and former head of the Department of Quantity Surveying at the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) Gay le Roux.
Le Roux was addressing the student challenges facing universities across South Africa during her keynote address yesterday at the Association of Schools of Construction of Southern Africa’s (Asocsa’s) 10th Built Environment Conference in Port Elizabeth.
She was last night presented with a lifetime achievement award.
The conference, hosted this year by NMMU, is themed “Towards a Renaissance”.
It is one of only two construction-related conferences in the country fully accredited by the Department of Higher Education.
In her hard-hitting presentation, Le Roux said the core problem facing the country was how to accommodate, every year, the expectations of thousands of matriculants who consider that they have an inalienable right to university education.
She said a key driver behind this phenomenon was a belief held by matriculants that a university qualification was their key to employment, promotion and prosperity – but “reality proves this is not so”.
She pointed out that a 2008 Department of Education study showed that, although a Grade 12 pass may meet university admission requirements, not all matriculants were university material.
“They do not all have the intellectual capacity, the aptitude for independent learning, an all-important positive attitude towards their own career development, and funding to cover all their campus needs,” she said.
Le Roux called for a hybrid mix of school and post-school education by means of community colleges, which would be less expensive, offer a slower pace of independent learning, and provide the vocational skills needed in the current job market.
“What is needed are credible intermediaries, individuals and organisations with representatives who will reach out to Grade 11 and 12 pupils to present the strong case for acquiring trade skills without university qualifications,” she said.