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CHIETA: THE ROLE OF THE FET COLLEGE SECTOR IN ADDRESSING S&C SKILLS. FET COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR 6 JUNE 2006. FOR THE FET COLLEGES:. FORWARD TO THE PAST OR BACK TO THE FUTURE?. DO WE STILL BELIEVE IN THE NQF?.
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CHIETA: THE ROLE OF THE FET COLLEGE SECTOR IN ADDRESSING S&C SKILLS FET COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR 6 JUNE 2006
FOR THE FET COLLEGES: FORWARD TO THE PAST OR BACK TO THE FUTURE?
DO WE STILL BELIEVE IN THE NQF? A National Qualifications Framework that integrates all elements of the education & training system to enable learner progress from any starting point
PETER SENGE DEFINITION Senge: Learning Organization Def.: “Knowledge is the capacity for effective action” Information: Know about things Knowing how
BILL GATES Knowledge is information combined with experience, context, interpretation, and reflection Newsweek, Dec 2005
AREAS • Discipline-based • Basis of much of schooling • Knowledge produced at top level • High Level Inter-Disciplinary • E.g. NASA, SASOL • Knowledge produced at top level • Economic & Social Sectors • Knowledge produced at all levels
AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE-PRODUCTION IN SOCIETY • Disciplines: knowledge–production at high level • Uncodified Areas: New areas that have emerged in a knowledge-intensive world • Know how of “How Do”
KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN SOCIETY • “Traditional ways of producing knowledge within single disciplines and institutions are being supplemented by knowledge generated within various applied contexts. This is knowledge that is collaboratively created…directed to problems in social and economic systems…..” (DACST, 1996)
TEACHER-CENTRED • Discipline-based • Expert as primary learning resource • Delivery method: • Lecture • Textbook • Exercises • Examinations
APPRENTICESHIP • Expert as Mentor/Coach • Facilitated Learning • Delivery method: • Guided Learning • Learned by imitation • Mostly on-the-job • Assessment: Based on outcomes
TECHNICIAN/ARTISAN • Mixture of two models • Block release to learn theory • On-the-Job Training with some structure and guidance
A CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE • “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself,” Galileo is reputed to have said. • The essential idea that a learner is not a passive recipient of knowledge but rather an active constructor, has stood the test of time. This has come to be known as a radical constructivist conception of knowledge. • From this perspective it is hardly surprising that, as teachers have often experienced, many students fail to learn much from their most inspired efforts at talking in the classroom.
WORKPLACE LEARNING (1) • Further with the recognition that knowledge needs re-definition is the recognition that the sites of learning are many and varied. The traditional definitions of knowledge have implicitly designated formal institutions of learning as the primary site of learning. This perception has been re-enforced by the fact that in most instances, a qualification is awarded by an institution, before any further learning in a practical environment isobtained by the learner……. This bias toward qualification-as-destination is at odds with reality“ (Barnett)
WORKPLACE LEARNING (2) Notice how the book "Understanding Learning at Work” begins: • "Learning at work has become one of the most exciting areas of development in the dual fields of management and education. It has moved to become a central concern of corporations and universities; it is no longer the pre-occupation of a small band of vocational training specialists. • Today we see employees extending their educational capabilities in learning through their work. At the same time, opportunities and problems within work are creating the need for new Knowledge and understanding".
THE WORKPLACE AS A SITE OF LEARNING Teaching and learning are often seen to be synonymous, so the absence of qualified teachers and a deliberately structured curriculum can easily lead to assumptions that learning in workplaces will be inferior to that occurring in schools, colleges and universities. The pathways of experience and guidance provided in workplaces are often structured and “formalized”
Further, rather than being weak, the learning occurring outside teaching and institutional practice is often central to sustaining the practices - and even the communities - in which the learning occurs.
STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT PROFESSOR/ LIBRARY/ INFORMATION STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT TEACHER-CENTRED
LIBRARY INTERNET CLASS LEARNER PROFESSOR COACH LEARNERS WORKPLACES COACHES, MENTORS LEARNER-CENTRED
A NEW APPROACH • Resource-based • Activity-based • Cognitive Intervention • Workplace as Site of Learning
PROVISION AS LEARNING FACILITATION EXPOSE LEARNERS TO THE GREATEST POSSIBLE RANGE OF RESOURCES, ACTIVITIES AND COGNITIVE INTERVENTIONS THAT ENABLE AND EMPOWER LEARNERS WHILE PROVIDING STRONG GUIDANCE TO ENSURE STRUCTURED LEARNING ADVANCEMENT
CHIETA’s S&C SKILLS MATRIX • Outline of S&C Skills per sub-sector • Linked to Service Providers • Identification of Gaps • Linked to an Occupationally-Directed Qualifications Framework per sub-sector
Steps to address S&C S Crisis • Define exact nature of S&C Skill • Convene group of experts to codify knowledge • Establish an O-D. Q.F. • Register qualifications as required • Develop learning programme and establish learning partnerships
SO WHAT CONSTITUTES A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE?
THE ELEMENTS • Workplace as site of knowledge-production & learning • An Institution as Learning Facilitator • Formal educational institutions • Research Institutions • The CHIETA - as Authority not “Skills Autobank”
NOTHING LESS THAN A LEARNING REVOLUTION AT ALL LEVELS IS WHAT IS REQUIRED WHAT IS LEARNED AND WHERE IT IS LEARNED MUST LEAD TO MEANINGFUL OUTCOMES FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
UNASKED FOR ADVICE: CUT FET COLLEGES LOOSE, LET THEM FORM MEANINGFUL PARTNERSHIPS AND CONSTRUCT REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS. AND DO NOT HAVE A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL QUALIFICATION FOR EVERYBODY
