Cartoner 17 FFS2 (Qualitech/ NPS)
4.10 The Role of ABET at Imana Foods
satisfaction with the Imana Foods Training Programme as mentioned earlier on in this chapter.
Most of the employees from all the categories listed on the Imana Foods organogram are confused about the requirements of the Skills Development Act,and as a result believe that the Imana Foods Training Programme meets with the all requirements of the act. Imana Foods developed a Workplace Skills Plan and paid the Skills
Development Levy. However,these are just a few requirements that have been fulfilled. The Imana Foods Training Programme on its own does not meet any of the criteria set down by the SAQA Act regarding education and training under the new system.
that the literacy and numeracy skills learnt through ABET will help the learners cope with the other courses on the training programme. Both the fundamental learning areas are offered from ABET level 1 to 4. The workers are assessed by the results obtained through the placement tests that they took. Imana Foods is registered with the Independent Examination Board (IEB) and the workers sit for examinations set by the IEB. The IEB is a registered and SAQA accredited institution.
The examinations run every six months, and the workers write the examinations when they are fully prepared. The Course Co-ordinator told me that the pass rate at Imana Foods is very good. The course-coordinator has not registered any ofthe workers to sit for the examinations at the end of this year. She said that the workers had a very busy six months on the production floor. They were not committed to attending the classes and were therefore not fully prepared to write the examinations
According to the document on the ABET Programme run at Imana Foods (see
Appendix E) the Imana ABET programme was implemented to enable the workers to gain important life skills and develop their potential to succeed both at work and in their daily lives (The Imana Foods ABET Programme).
The Media Works ABET course is designed so that the workers can work through each course at their own pace, without the need for a full-time teacher. The computer is the main teaching tool. The learners access their lessons through the computer. The lesson on the computer is followed up by written activities in the workbook, so that the learner can practise what he or she has learnt. Each learner is responsible for his or her own learning.
The computer-based programme offers the workers the opportunity to improve on their written and spoken English communication skills, develop their Numeracy skills and gain basic computer skills (see Appendix E). Some of the employees from the skilled category on the Imana Foods Training Programme said that the workers have been able to overcome their fears regarding working with computers and that they have grown in confidence.
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A facilitator is available to assist learners with any problems encountered during the lesson. The learners write down problems that they want to ask the facilitator about during their tutorial lesson. The facilitators provide additional lessons to help those learners experiencing problems with their lessons.
The learners work individually on the computer and must attend lessons for 2 hours per week. If the learner cannot attend classes in the time allotted to him or her, arrangements can be made to make up for the lesson at a time that is convenient to the learner.
Facilitation classes are provided to the learners. These classes are thirty minutes long and are provided in each of the learning areas that the learner is enrolled for. This is the time set aside for learners to discuss their problem areas and to do corrections for the work that was completed in their workbooks. The workbooks are marked at least once a week.
4.10.2 Benefits of the ABET Programme
According to the "leadership" team, the ABET programme has benefited the workers in several ways. The "non-skilled" workers have become more confident and are able to communicate their thoughts and ideas to other workers. The worker's English second language skills have improved and they find it easier to cope with the reading of the training manuals and the instructions concerning the use of the machinery.
According to the course-coordinator, the younger workers are very motivated and have a burning ambition to achieve results and progresswithin the organization. The older workers have made steady progress. According to the course-coordinator and other employees who are responsible for the workers on the production line,ABET has benefited those workers from the non-skilled category. The ABET courses do not lead to any credits that the workers can use to build on towards a recognized
qualifications on the NQF.However these fundamentalleaming areas provide the workers oflmana Foods with a good foundation that helps them cope with the courses on the Imana Foods Training Programme. The Line Production Manager reported that the workers have benefited both at work and at home from attending ABET classes.
Their communication skills are developing and they are gaining more self-confidence.
The workers use their Literacy and Numeracy skills at home to help their children do
their homework. The Numeracy courses have helped workers set up small businesses at home for their spouses or family members to run while they are at work. The Literacy and Numeracy skills have helped them at work to progress to a higher level and receive more money.
4.10.3 The course contentof the ABET programme
The ABET programme is intended to provide the learners with skills that will equip them to cope with their job functions and matters pertaining to their everyday lives.
The course-coordinator and part-time facilitator said that the course material relates to everyday activities relating to the workers' everyday lives. The course material covers subject matter such as filling out application forms at banks,deposit slips,how to use an ATM machine,and other life skills that relate to the workers' everyday lives. The Course Co-ordinator feels that electives should be added to the ABET programme that are relevant to the work situation of the workers,and which provide the workers with a better understanding of the work environment by exposing the workers to a wider range of subject matter. According to the Course Co-ordinator, including a wider range of subject matter providesthe worker with more choices in which to specialize. One of the employees who had completed his level 3 literacy course criticized the programme by saying that he was unhappy with the projects that learners were expected to comply with, because they were not related to the job they were doing at Imana Foods. He said that it would have been more beneficial if the project helped him understand his job better.
4.10.4 The relationship of the ABET Programme to the Skills Development Act During my field research I conducted several interviews concerning the relationship that the ABET programme has to the Skills Development Act. I interviewed the C.E.O.,the Course Co-ordinator,and other employeesfrom level 3 on the Imana Foods Training Programme,and theysaid that the Skills Development Act did not have an impact on the ABET programme,as this programme was implemented long before the Act was passed. As mentioned previously,ABET is not considered to be an independent programme. Although the ABET programme is the only system which provides the workers with credits that they could use to build on to achieve a full qualification, only those workers that do not have grade 12 of formal school education will benefit.
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There are only a handful of workers who do not have grade 12 of formal school education. Training is very costly, and it will not benefit the learners to get the GETC qualification. The Imana Foods Training Programme is the onlyprogramme that is viewed as important bythe"leadership" team and is the onlyavenuethrough which the non-skilled and semi-skilled workers can progress upward within Imana Foods. As the C.E.O. said: "the ABET programme is a 'stepping stone' and not the main form of education and training that the workers receive."Ithas become clear that the ABET programme,though limited in its scope, is providing the workers with skills development.