One response of government to the considerable problems discussed above was the introduction of the CAP test at the beginning of 2007, after the intake of the first cohort of NC(V) students (Taljaard, 2013). According to Dodd (2010 cited in Adams, 2011) and Taljaard (2013), the intention of the CAP test was to firstly, assess whether students will be able to cope with Level 2 EFAL and Mathematical Literacy by testing their NQF Level 1 competencies in the two subjects; and secondly to assist prospective students to identify and make a choice about the vocation they sought to pursue. The CAP test thus provides a mechanism to assist TVET colleges in the early identification of students who might be at risk and to put in place the necessary support mechanisms for these students (Taljaard, 2013).Therefore, the intention of the CAP test was to help remove barriers to the learners’
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completion of their qualification rather than to exclude them; it was “not to function as a gate-keeping device” (Bohlmann, 2005, p.363; Kim & Suen, 2003; Taljaard, 2013).
According to Taljaard (2013), the CAP test is meant rather to see where each learner needs support throughout the course.
The CAP Test comprises of three components or subtests, namely, an English competency test, a Mathematics competency test and the Career Interest Questionnaire (Taljaard, 2013).
The English and Mathematics Competency Tests measure which NQF Level 1 outcomes a prospective student has mastered. This is important in placing the students as the DoE (2006) decided that NQF Level 1 (i.e. Grade 9) is a requirement for entry into NC(V) Level 2. The intention of the Career Interest Questionnaire is to identify the student’s area of interest in one or more of the 14 training and vocational programmes offered by the TVET colleges.
Placing students in this way was also important in that there is often no going back to mainstream secondary school once a student has chosen to pursue a particular vocational field (Taljaard, 2013).
Research conducted on the CAP tests reveals that the CAP test falls short as a predictor of a student’s future performance, but that it is a good mechanism for the identification of gaps in foundational skills and knowledge in the mastering of grade 9 (Taljaard, 2013). For instance, a student who performs poorly in the CAP test (i.e. Grade 9 level of work), but who performs well at the TVET college, could possibly have benefitted from the excellent work of lecturers or could have compensated for the work that should have been covered in Grade 9 by
working harder (Taljaard, 2013). For this study, I believe that students could benefit from my improving the way in which I conducted my teaching. Therefore, I believe that I could make things better for students to perform excellently.
Another key intervention has been the problem of under qualified lecturers. As argued above, TVET is seen by government as pivotal in the country’s efforts to address the skills shortage by developing a citizenry who can contribute effectively to social and economic development in the country (DHET, 2013a). That is, there is an explicit need for the TVET college sector as a place to produce real-world skills required in both the public and private sector. This places TVET college lecturers at the coalface of the programmes to address the challenge of skills shortage, as central players in this landscape. In other words, TVET colleges must be staffed with “sufficient, appropriately qualified and competent lecturers, who understand and have expertise in both the academic and work-related dimensions of TVET” (DHET, 2013a,
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p.3). Therefore, there is a presumption that TVET college lecturers are “a well-motivated and effective component” of the TVET college system capable of tackling the national skills development challenge (Akoojee, 2008, p.297).
With the realisation that there was a need to formalise the TVET sector, the DHET took steps to begin the long road to producing qualified and competent lecturers (DHET, 2013a). It thus introduced the National Professional Diploma in Education: Vocational Training (NPDE:
VT) as an interim measure targeting those unqualified lecturers currently teaching in
colleges. The qualification was an alternative route for further education and development for these educators to become fully qualified professionals, which is at the level of Relative Education Qualification Value (REQV) 13. The qualification had a strong classroom focus and equipped these educators with the competencies required to pursue further studies at NQF Level 6. The qualification also took advantage of and built on the previous experiences and professional training that these educators may have accumulated.
However, many education faculties tweaked the original NPDE, which was intended for the upgrading of school teachers, and offered it as an adapted version for college lecturers (Papier, 2008). As a result, very few of the higher education institutions (the University of KwaZulu-Natal being one of the exceptions) could articulate vocational education and training policy and global issues in their course outlines. In some cases, universities did not have the requisite capacity to offer technical subject matter to college lecturers (Ibid.).
Therefore, lecturers who required proficiency in technical subject matter, qualified without it.
In addition, the take-up of the NPDE: VT was slow and the numbers of lecturers who enrolled were relatively small. The challenges of implementing the NPDE: VT was
exacerbated by the fact that there was a vacuum in terms of what exactly TVET colleges were meant to be and what they were teaching (Papier, 2008). Therefore, establishing what college lecturers needed to be trained in was a difficult mission. In addition, it was unclear who the vocational trainers of college lecturers were at institutions of higher learning, as there was little experience and capacity in higher education in this sector.
To respond to this and to level the regulatory landscape regarding this call, the DHET published the Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (DHET, 2013a). The primary intention of the policy was to ensure that qualified and competent lecturers were made available for the TVET college sector. This was important in that the TVET sector has a responsibility to contribute to the
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country’s efforts to respond to the priority skills demand. In addition, the policy provided a qualification framework that could be deployed for the “professional and post-professional development of TVET lecturers” (p. 3). Implicitly, the policy sought to strengthen the efforts to address issues such as low throughput rates, high dropout rates, low rates of progression, and poor rates of completion, by improving the quality of teaching and learning in the TVET college sector (DHET, 2013a; Mgijima, 2014). The provision of a set of higher education qualifications would also assist to align the sector with international standards in terms of the professionalization, standardisation and certification of TVET college lecturers (Papier, 2008).
From the above, it is obvious that there is a need for a diligent focus on improving the quality of and expanding professional development opportunities for TVET college lecturers, and encouraging TVET college lecturers to take advantage of these opportunities. Lecturers are crucial implementers of the envisaged curriculum changes (Kanyane, 2016). Amongst other things, there is a need for the DHET to invest more interest and resources to ensure that TVET college lecturers are qualified and competent. The motivation and competence of lecturers are significant factors for the success of the sector. Lecturers must be capable of assisting students to improve their performance in English to ensure that they are able to succeed in English-medium courses. The type of the student enrolled in the NC(V)
programme requires the type of lecturer that can ensure that students are equipped with the skills and knowledge required in the labour market. In other words, a lecturer that is required for a vibrant vocational education and training is that which is adequately equipped to ensure that the sector can meet the expectations of the national skills agenda (Nieman & Monyai, 2006). Without such a lecturer, the TVET sector will be unable to execute its mandate of either redressing past inequities or producing sufficiently skilled graduates. Therefore, TVET college lecturers must be the focus of intervention as they are primary agents for fulfilling the agenda of the vocational education sector (Akoojee, 2008; Papier, 2009). I took this argument to heart in thinking about my study and its purpose. I am mindful of the fact that there are many different factors at play, as discussed above, over which I have little control. I thus chose to use an action research design focusing on myself and my practice as a lecturer, and using Kolb’s Learning Styles Theory as a point of departure.
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