26 September 2005

SKILLS PLANNING

Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET)

YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN!

Media Works is a multimedia company that specialises in Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) Programmes. The formation of Media Works arose out of the need for educating the previously disadvantaged sector of the population. Media Works, a Service Provider for AgriSETA, shared one of their stories of a learner attending the ABET programmes.

The first time 48-year-old Mina Mjola sat in front of a computer her hands were shaking so much that she couldn’t control the mouse. That was a mere 3 weeks ago. Now she confidently clicks her way around a lesson and rarely requires assistance from her facilitator. Mina is one of 28 farm labourers on a citrus farm, Endulini Fruit, in the Gamtoos Valley who are attending adult basic education and training classes with a view to acquiring a formal qualification.

The citrus farm, owned by Pietie Ferreira and his family, recently implemented the multimedia, interactive approach to ABET developed by adult education expert Media Works. In addition to acquiring basic literacy skills, the farm workers are learning to speak English and acquiring computer skills at the same time. Pietie’s wife, Coba and her close friend and colleague, Chichi Rautenbach, both received facilitator training from Media Works’ Eastern Cape office and between them, they oversee all of the adult learner’s lessons.

Coba says the learners are very eager despite facing the double challenge of having had very little prior schooling and being predominantly Afrikaans speaking. Within 20 minutes of first sitting in front of the computer; bearing in mind that most of these learners had never seen a computer before; they were using the mouse tutor to move around the computer screen.

“It is one of the most inspirational things to see people’s self-respect grow, as well as their respect for the farm on which they work. After just three weeks I can see that the learners are more confident in their day-to-day dealings with one another, and with us, their employers. I’m extremely proud of them. This is a hugely rewarding programme and hopefully we can eventually give all of our workers access to it,” adds Coba.

For information on ABET programmes, please contact Fano Luthuli on (012) 325 1655 or email fano@agriseta.co.za.

(Learners attending the ABET classes)

FOCUSSED PROJECTS

Apart from its normal activities, the AgriSETA also manage and implement a range of special projects. These are projects for which dedicated funding has been sourced, over and above the SETA’s own discretionary funds.

NSF Strategic Projects
Both the former PAETA and SETASA were allocated dedicated funds from the National Skills Fund to implement projects of Strategic importance to the sector. Each SETA was allocated an amount of R33 million. The R66 million was used mainly for the emerging sector, bursaries and ABET.

In the case of SETASA, their strategic project was successfully concluded and in the case of PAETA the final payments are being made and will be concluded by end September 2005.

Both projects attempted to impact nationally and covered the most remote rural areas of South Africa. Final evaluations of projects indicate an acceptable level of success; to such an extent that it is felt that the projects should be repeated. Through the relevant Government Department (National Department of Agriculture), a further application will be forwarded soon to the NSF in an attempt to attract funding for a further strategic project. Whilst not formally decided yet, such a strategic project will most likely (at least partly) focus on agricultural land reform beneficiaries and agro-processing.

NSF learnership project 1 (“NSF 2000”)
By March 2004, the NSF approved an application from the former PAETA to engage 2 000 unemployed and under resourced farmers in learnerships. The total project value is R42 million.

All funds have been allocated. This project is approximately 75% completed and a total of 2 200 learners were enrolled in more than 50 sub-projects.

Extension for completion was requested from the Department of Labour and this project will now be completed by March 2006.

NSF learnership project 2 (“NSF 700”)
Due to the fact that the Agri sector did not have vocational qualifications, learnerships as a means to obtain a sector specific vocational qualification, has become increasingly popular. The former PAETA was literally inundated with requests for learnerships.

Thus, even whilst the NSF 2000 project is still in its implementation phase, a further application was forwarded to the NSF and by July 2005 a further 700 learners have been approved. By end of August, all funds were allocated and most learnerships will commence in September 2005. The planned completion date for this project is May 2006.

Learning Materials Development Project
Recently, the National Department of Agriculture transferred R800 000 to the AgriSETA with the sole purpose to develop relevant and world class learning material for the sector.

Over the past number of years it became clear that providers, and especially small providers, although accredited, does not have the capacity to develop own, high quality learning materials. In consultation with the NDA a decision was taken to intervene and to develop high quality generic learning materials. This will focus on the agricultural sector.

Generic learning materials will be developed for all qualifications ranging from NQF 1 to NQF 4 and will cover Plant Production, Animal Production and Mixed Farming Systems.

Following a public tender procedure, an appropriate consultant consortium was appointed to manage this project and to engage appropriate materials developers and verifiers to design the learning material.

This project is planned to be completed by June 2006. It is foreseen that this project will impact very positively on the ability of the training providers in our sector to deliver a high quality service.

For information on these projects, you can contact Johann Engelbrecht on johann@agriseta.co.za.

Imbizo with the Minister of Labour

On the 1st of September 2005 Dominicus Yotwana (Quality Control Co-ordinator: Accreditation) and Gisela Welgemoed (Learnership Co-ordinator) represented the AgriSETA at the North West Imbizo where the honourable Minister of Labour, addressed stakeholders.

To name but a few, questions ranged from accrediting Training Providers, employment equity requirements, Learnership allowances, and certification of learners.

Feedback was given with regard to the following:

Mr Moumakwas (CCMA) mentioned that most of the cases they handled were dismissals (80%) and mediation (20%). Their statistics also indicated that only 20% of employees were represented by unions.
Cosatu’s main points of concern revolved around issues of retrenchments, health and safety and unfair labour practices. They also mentioned the lack of response to accommodating the requirements of disabled people, for example no provision being made for ramps in buildings, while a call was made to employers and ESDLE’s to place disabled learners, especially those with newly acquired skills. A suggestion was made that a Braille ABET programme for the blind be introduced in communities. The matter of the varying Learnership allowances paid by SETA’s, need to be streamlined by the Department of Labour, although this may prove difficult as each SETA’s levy income varied.
Training Providers were concerned about:
- the delay in payments
- that they were missing out on opportunities for training
- a result of the slow accreditation process.
- the different requirements that SETA’s applied for accreditation,
- the processes for accreditation should be made more user-friendly.
It was suggested that SETA’s should be assisted by the Department of Labour- Support Services
A representative of the Business sector, Mr Matlou, emphasized the need to accelerate development within the country. He also mentioned that Higher Education (HE) is still not informed regarding the scarce skills in the country and reiterated that there are skills which do not contribute to the economic growth of the country and do not have much return on investment.
Mr S Mahlangu of Provincial and Local Government indicated that the certification of learners was a slow process, especially for those learners in the rural areas and that notification of learner certification ceremonies should be done well in advance in order to accommodate those attending to arrive in time for their ceremony. He also placed emphasis on the implementation of the Employment Equity Act.
Umsombomvu indicated that they were working through defined mechanisms in the community, whereby they are informed of the projects needed. Currently projects, aligned with the NSDS are being rolled out in the various provinces.

In general, stakeholders were also perturbed with the changes that occur in the middle of projects, resulting in unintended consequences. A request was for providers to submit local projects to their local Department of Labour. The Minister explained the loss in levies that resulted from the increased threshold for Small Medium Micro Enterprises (SMME’s) who were exempt from paying the skills development levy. Though it may be a relief to small business, it would be a loss of R1 billion and would limit training in the workplace, as well as having a negative impact on meeting the NSDS targets.

The evening ended with Sam Maratoba, Director General of the Department of Labour, calling on Government “not to be a spectator, but be an intervener.”

Agricultural Machinery Technician Workshop
6 September 2005

At a scoping workshop held on 18th August, discussions were held regarding the revision and development of qualifications for the Agricultural Machinery Technicians. This resulted in the working group meeting on the 6th September 2005 at the AgriSETA offices to debate the principles for developing the unit standards and qualifications for levels 1 to 3.

Discussion points included:

A career path commencing with a General Education and Training Certificate at NQF 1
A proposal that there be three qualifications viz. NQF 1, 2 and 3;
A progressive approach to develop the competencies required by the industry, with the NQF 3 qualification resulting in a fully qualified technician;
exit level outcomes at each level,
The core of each qualification would focus on the generic mechanical competencies required by the broader scope within the agricultural machinery environment;
Mechanical systems or components that are unique to specific machinery or implements would be covered by the elective unit standards. These unit standards could establish a framework for skills programmes that could be implemented where required in the industry;
Product specific learning that would not fall within the main scope of the qualifications should be dealt with by the agents.

The finalization of the occupational needs of the industry and the formulation of a clear matrix of the expected scope of every qualification was also discussed. This will instruct and direct the further development of the qualifications.

The working group decided to:

Set out the structures of the different qualifications that need to be developed
Commence writing Unit Standards and Qualifications for the first qualification

Develop a revised NQF 2, due to the learner not being able to complete the qualification in one year.

The working group in discussion with the Agricultural Machinery Technician Qualification

Contact telephone: (012) 325 1655
Facsimile: (012) 325 1677/24.