South Africa must embark upon the third epoch of education policy after the failures of the first two epochs: the 1953-1994 ("apartheid") era and the 1994-2021 era (the dawn of democracy and the dismantling of apartheid structures). There were not enough education opportunities to guide all the children of the country to maturity and…

The UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET actively supports Member States in strengthening and upgrading their technical and vocational education and training systems. This booklet provides up-to-date information on UNESCO-UNEVOC's capacity-building programmes and projects, key thematic areas, online knowledge resources and databases, and…

This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring…

Purpose: The South African vocational education and training (VET) sector is required by legislation to redefine postsecondary education, advance industrialisation and expand the job market to address unemployment in the country. Yet, VET leaders' heterogenous educational and occupational backgrounds do not enable them to address the needs of the…

This study aimed to explore the perceptions of academic staff on the concept of curriculum decolonization in a selected technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college in Eastern Cape Province. South Africa has been confronted with calls for curriculum decolonization and at some point, students all over the country decided to embark…

The demand for relevant skills for the labor market constitutes one of the fundamental challenges facing the post-school system in South Africa. The South African government has therefore proposed a policy on professional development teacher education programs for Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the South African Department of…

In this paper, drawing on an extensive research project across three countries (VET Africa 4.0 Collective 2023), we produce an emerging argument that it is necessary to rethink and reframe VET logics and approaches in a warming future dominated by informality and mass unemployment. Currently, neither the formal VET college or workplace are…

The lack of digital skills among Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college students is a challenge that negatively affects their academic performance, leading to the college's poor throughput rate. This study aimed to evaluate the digital skills and knowledge of TVET college students of Newcastle, South Africa, about their…

Purpose: There is a global concern about the effectiveness of vocational education and training (VET) programmes in developing job-related skills and competencies for real-world environments for disadvantaged and unemployed youths. Experiential learning (EL) is a major component of VET programmes. This article aims to examine the effects of…

This paper argues that the recent policy reform of occupational qualifications in South Africa is not substantially different from previous qualifications composed of unit standards and learning outcomes. The transition to democracy in the 1990s saw the introduction of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for post-school education. The…

The focus of this study was to investigate the coherence between the needs of industry and the curriculum offered at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The context of this study was TVET colleges, which is a relatively recent sector in the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), in South Africa. There is…

E-learning is of increasing importance in delivering flexible and distributed programmes for workforce skill development such as induction, product knowledge, systems compliance, and customer service. This research consists of a desktop exploratory review of e-learning concepts, policies, surveys, and a set of proposals and recommendations from…

This study investigated the impact of work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) lecturers on their industry expertise and teaching skills. WIL was introduced to address the inadequate work experience of TVET lecturers and improve their capacity to deliver quality teaching. The study used…

Lecturers have different perceptions of the effect of internal continuous assessment (ICASS) on students at tertiary vocational education and training (TVET) colleges. This qualitative multiple case study explored computer practice module lecturer's experience of internal continuous assessment (ICASS) in three KwaZulu-Natal TVET colleges. Six…

Leadership structures in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa face stark gender inequalities. Narratives of women currently in TVET leadership positions in the Western Cape province of South Africa might shed light on gender transformation in this sector. This article provides an insider perspective on 10…