CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE SURVEY
2.7 PRESSURES FOR CHANGE IN THE FET LANDSCAPE 69
2.7.3 Globalisation 74
Furthermore, because of the narrow local consumer market, the production sums of locally produced goods have never been of the magnitude to optimally benefit form economic scale. Shielded by import tariffs which did not expose local products to healthy competition from higher quality global goods, there was no incentive for local manufacturers to develop a higher skills base and higher quality products (Marchington & Parker 1990:71). In short, tarrif protection has shielded local employers from international competition and, as a result, local employers became complacent. The dramatic changes taking place in the workplace because of political, social and economic factors have greatly influenced organisational functioning and management styles in public FET institutions.
(Robertson 1995:86). In South Africa, the role of FET institutions is critical in meeting these dual developmental obligations.
Rhinesmith (1993:4) argues that enterprises require entire labour forces that are sufficiently skilled to adapt to highly unpredictable and volatile global product markets and rapid technological change, and that the labour force requires broad problem-solving skills to anticipate flaws in production. Workers need to understand how the new technologies can be optimally applied, how the entire production process unfolds, how environmental context shapes the execution of tasks and how unexpected factors arise. Rhinesmith (1993:6) continues to state that it is the ability to retool and respond to rapidly changing conditions, which the further education and training system can only provide through high levels of generalised yet unspecified skills. The latter are required to create employment opportunities for thousands of impoverished people, help forge entrepreneurial infrastructure, contribute to the process of democratisation, and address global social problems.
However, South Africa is a capitalist country, and it is in the interest of capitalists to maximise profits through driving down the wages of workers. Baylis and Smith (2001:206) define capitalism as a system of production for sale in a market for profit and appropriation of this profit on the basis of individual or collective ownership. They argue that within the context of this system, specific institutions are continually being created and recreated. According to Baylis and Smith (2001:206), none of these institutions is timeless, that is, none remain the same, and to claim otherwise is to fail to understand that the characteristics of social institutions are historically specific. For Baylis and Smith (2001:207) all public institutions, large or small, are continually adapting and changing within the context of a dynamic world-systems, and the modern world-system has features which can be described in terms of space and time. According to Baylis and Smith (2001:208) there are three zones of the world-economy which are linked together in an exploitative relationship in which wealth is drained away from the
periphery to the centre. As a consequence, the relative positions of the zones become ever more deeply entrenched, that is, the rich get richer whilst the poor become poorer. The conceptualisation of globalisation as national
“borderlessness” might lead to some to conclude that globalisation is producing a worldwide trend towards homogeneity and uniformity. However, Parker (2003:235) has pointed out that as boundaries dissolve, as barriers are permeated, as the world compresses, as people become interdependent, they become aware of cultural differences and diversity. Thus the call to “act global, think local” and become part of the “global village” worldwide is hindered by the tendency to define, describe and envision globalisation in quite different ways.
The following figure indicates the interrelationships in the world economy
Figure 2.3 Interrelationships in the world economy Source Baylis and Smith 2001 : 207.
Core
Democratic governments
High wages
Import: raw materials
Exports: manufactures
High investments
Welfare services Semi-Periphery
Authoritarian governments
Export:
‘Mature’ manufactures Raw materials
Import:
Manufactures Raw materials
Low wages
Low welfare services Periphery
Non-democratic governments
Export:
Raw materials
Import:
Raw materials
Below subsistence wages
No welfare services
Rhinesmith (1993:4) is of the opinion that if people are confused about what globalisation means now, they are also perplexed about what it will mean for the future. Schenk (2009:464) believes that globalisation will lead to the exploitation of foreign workers, limit choices to unappealing options, and destroy natural resources and local cultures.
In the face of increasing globalisation, with the further erosion of local community control over daily life and the further extension of the power of the market and transnational corporations, people are standing up for their rights as they define them (McGowan & Nel 2002:117). McGowan and Nel (2002:118) maintain that people are making a case for local control and local empowerment as the heart of development, and they are rejecting the dominant agenda of government- controlled spheres. In this context, development is about facilitating community‟s participation and lead role in deciding what sort of development is appropriate for it. This alternative conception of globalisation therefore values diversity above universality, and is based on a different conception of the rights of local citizens and workers.
Another pressure on the FET system associated with globalisation and also a response to the increasing world-wide demand for greater access to further education and training,has been the massification of the education and training system (Goerzen 2005:103). The impact of globalisation has led to a major shift in the institutional organisation and delivery of programmes in the FET sector. A key feature of this shift has been the growth of recurrent, continuing and professional education in FET institutions.
In the first instance, the expansion and diversity in programme delivery has been an economic response. The global economy has required a more educated and trained workforce, and this has been reflected in the massive expansion of technical, vocational, career and para-professional programmes offered in recurrent, continuing and distance modes. The FET institutions in South Africa
have an important role to play in ensuring that the once marginalised communities are effectively interwoven into and benefit from the dynamic growth triggered in the global economy.