Sub-theme 4 Building blocks for NSDS 3 REPORT BACK

1. Sub-theme 4Building blocks for NSDS 3REPORT BACK National Skills Conference 2008 “Reflection on a decade of skills development for the future”:

2. Purpose • Identify key issues and challenges arising from the implementation of NSDS2 • Derive a platform for developing NSDS3 Objectives, Indicators and Targets for the NSDS3 consultation process to ensure strategy is launched in October 2009 to enable planning and implementation from April 2010 • Key questions • Do we need a national skills development strategy? • Are the objectives still relevant? • Are the indicators appropriate? • Are the targets and measures sufficient? • Agreed • All objectives must be mandatory for all SETAs however each SETA must determine its priorities with SSP research ( SLA to be flexible to avoid one size fit all approach) • Appropriate resource/s to be identified to support the implementation of the NSDS particularly objectives

3. Key assumptions • Skills development landscape will remain largely unchanged • Levy will remain • Key implementing agencies will remain • SETAs, NSF and Productivity SA, Umsobomvu • Partners: Employer, Labour, Community • Number of SETAs may change but key responsibilities remain • Monitoring skills demand and supply • Disbursing grants • Incentivising and supporting strategies to address demand • Managing implementation of regulated learning programmes • Monitoring and supporting strategies to increase quality of learning programme delivery and particularly workplace learning

4. Key agreements • Vision, Mission, Principles and Objectives agreed • Some wording changes • Flexibility in objectives, targets and measures to ensure • Alignment with national strategies: Growth and Development, ASGI-SA (JIPSA), Industrial Policy • Meet needs of policy changes • Meet needs of sectors and sectoral policy / labour market requirements • Maintain coherence and consistency • Appropriate mechanisms and instruments will be put in place before NSDS3 commences • Indicators to be further investigated • Levers to be further investigated • Specify Impact Assessment and Communication after Levers for each Indicator • Firms to be changed to employers to ensure inclusion of government departments

5. Objective 1: Prioritising and Communicating Skills for Sustainable Growth, Development and Equity • Consider adding the term “Employability” • How do we have an evidence based research approach to setting targets against measures and for impact assessment? • How do we improve the quality and relevance of research? • Evidence-based approach would allow for flexibility in implementation but then have a tension with the NSDS targets • How do we derive benchmarks and targets? How do we separate skills needs from skills demand? • How do we build an evidence-based approach to demonstrate the value-add of the skills development system • How do SETAs arrive at a basis for determining “needs”? Should SLAs be based on SETA need analyses of their sector? (SETAs should be repositories of knowledge for their sectors). • How do we ensure that equity is coherently integrated into the SDS? • Impact measurement for every indicator • Research model to be agreed with DoL • Determine research agenda framework.

6. Objective 2: Promoting And Accelerating Quality Training for All in the Workplace • The role of skills development facilitation needs to be emphasised • Professionalisation,and capacity building for SETAs and SDFs • Investigate issue of experience and opening access to workplace experience • Moving from compliance and malicious compliance to quality • Quality is inherent in the NQF alignment: Do we insist that training must be NQF aligned for grant payments? • Would have to ensure that the unit standards and qualifications are there, providers accredited, curricula and materials available • Possibly have a percentage of the WSP/ATR that has to be NQF aligned • Need common architecture and regulations and standardisation across all SETAs: • Need to evaluate criteria across all SETAs to ensure consistency. • Need DoL to have a legal review for common interpretation of regulations – all SETAs have to apply whatever is put in • Build in checks for equity?

7. Objective 3: Promoting Employability and Sustainable Livelihoods through Skills Development Change: Contributing to Employability and Sustainable Livelihoods through Skills Development Objective 4: Assisting Designated Groups, including new entrants, to participate in accredited work integrated learning and work-based programmes to acquire critical skills to enter the Labour Market and Self-employment • Both objectives remain • Indicators and targets need to be reviewed • Will SSP scarce and critical skills lists be used to inform all targets? • Role players and accountabilities to be clarified and clearly specified • Clarify terms “scarce” and “critical” and ensure consistency with definitions of scarce and critical skills

8. Objective 5: Improving the quality and relevance of provision • Needs to be reviewed and adjusted for the QCTO • Indicators and levers to be reviewed • Consider mandatory indicators linked to mandatory levers

9. Monitoring and Reporting NSDS • Implementation is monitored and evaluated through yearly agreements/contracts between DoL and the implementing agents. • Agreements/contracts set clear targets and specific deliverables in relation to NSDS success indicators. • Implementing agents are required to report on their achievements against these targets on a quarterly and yearly basis. • Consolidated into NSDS Quarterly Monitoring Reports, which are submitted to the NSA for review. The four NSDS quarterly reports are then integrated into the annual NSDS implementation Report.

10. Legislative Changes • Levy applicable to all employers • Remove thresh-hold of R500,000 • Be inclusive – no non-levy payers • Need a process to address issues that led to them being separated out in NSDS2, i.e. administrative burden • Changing skills development legislation to include government departments • Pay levy • Demonstrate that they are at the forefront of good practice skills development: • WSPs and ATRs • Labour sign-off on WSPs and ATRs to be regulated • Aligning EE with the OFO • Aligning EE, WSP and ATR timelines reporting timelines • WSP/ATR to be aligned to employer strategic plan (regulation amendment)

11. Way forward • Need an NSA action plan that works back from the 30 October 2009 • Draft strategic document • Consultation process at provincial level • National consultation and finalisation • Must be fixed by this date to ensure tools and mechanisms to enable implementation from April 2010 can be developed and adopted so that momentum from NSDS2 can be maintained and increased