Career guidance and lifelong career management took centre stage this week when the departments of basic education; higher education, science and innovation; and labour and employment came together to talk about coordinating efforts to develop employment-ready pupils and students.
The seminar, which is part of the Education for Employability (E4E) programme that is funded by the EU, aims to enhance coordination in the education, training, and employment sectors to develop a seamless pathway from education to work opportunities.
Speaking at the seminar, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Buti Manamela, acknowledged that the South African education system falls short in fully equipping pupils and students with the relevant skills to participate in the labour market.
“We also recognise that, in the South African context, our training in schools and at institutions of higher learning doesn’t quite fully equip students with relevant skills to enter the labour market,” he said at the seminar also attended by EU ambassador to South Africa Sandra Kramer
“We are also conscious of the fact that, the lack of a comprehensive career management system to guide the school-to-study-to-work value chain, has resulted in many young people lacking the competencies to engage life and work fully post their schooling and study careers,” he said.
Cheryl Weston, director for curriculum development at the Department of Basic Education, gave an update on the curriculum review and the progress of implementing the three-stream curriculum, which in addition to the academic stream now gives pupils the option of vocational and occupational subjects.
“The goal of curriculum strengthening is to equip learners with the knowledge and skills for a changing world, so they can more effectively transition from school to work, and beyond,” she said.
Weston said parents also need to be encouraged to not view vocational and occupational subjects as inferior to the academic stream.
She said a lot of work needs to be done to change perceptions about the vocational and occupational streams, adding that parents will celebrate when a child gets a degree but not when they qualify to be a plumber.
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