Browsing by Author "Papier, Joy"

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    21st Century competencies in technical and vocational education and training: rhetoric and reality in the wake of a pandemic
    (University of KZN, 2021) Papier, Joy
    There is general agreement about the need for vocational education and training to embrace so-called modern technologies in gearing up to deliver to young people a broad range of what have become known as 21st century competencies, of which digital literacy, self-directed learning, and adaptive learning are but three. Recent Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies in South Africa incorporate the language of future competencies that ought to be acquired by college students through their curricula and delivered by lecturers with appropriate professional training. But in April 2020, confronted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and an immediate hard lockdown, TVET colleges went into crisis mode to try to meet a government demand that no student be left behind. While blended and remote methodologies had been employed to some extent in a few college programmes, the pandemic suddenly launched all lecturers into technology dependent teaching and learning. This article is based on a survey of conveniently selected public TVET college lecturers early in the lockdown who were under enormous pressure to continue the academic programme remotely. The snapshot I obtained was one of anxiety and consternation, but also of deep concern for students and their wellbeing under inordinately difficult conditions. Their conflicting priorities while they tried to balance remote teaching responsibilities and personal needs were illustrative of Maslow’s well-known theorisation of humans and their hierarchy of needs. The limited research I conducted for this article was exploratory at a time in the pandemic when there were more questions than answers in every sphere of social interaction. My findings, therefore, do not seek to be definitive and there was full understanding that the education and training landscape was dynamic and shifting. However, what can be shared here is a moment in time to appreciate the experiences of a critical component of the TVET college sector under emergency conditions, and the distance they would have had to traverse towards official exhortations to leave no student behind. Keywords:
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    21st Century competencies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Rhetoric and reality in the wake of a pandemic
    (SAGE Publications, 2021) Papier, Joy
    There is general agreement about the need for vocational education and training to embrace so-called modern technologies in gearing up to deliver to young people a broad range of what have become known as 21st century competencies, of which digital literacy, self-directed learning, and adaptive learning are but three. Recent Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies in South Africa incorporate the language of future competencies that ought to be acquired by college students through their curricula and delivered by lecturers with appropriate professional training. But in April 2020, confronted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and an immediate hard lockdown, TVET colleges went into crisis mode to try to meet a government demand that no student be left behind. While blended and remote methodologies had been employed to some extent in a few college programmes, the pandemic suddenly launched all lecturers into technology dependent teaching and learning. This article is based on a survey of conveniently selected public TVET college lecturers early in the lockdown who were under enormous pressure to continue the academic programme remotely. The snapshot I obtained was one of anxiety and consternation, but also of deep concern for students and their wellbeing under inordinately difficult conditions. Their conflicting priorities while they tried to balance remote teaching responsibilities and personal needs were illustrative of Maslow’s well-known theorisation of humans and their hierarchy of needs.
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    Exploring competence development through the transfer of specialist knowledge and skills from engineering lecturers to students in South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges: A COMET study
    (University of the Western Cape, 2024) Hurjunlal, Adhir; Papier, Joy
    This study investigates the potential of the COMET (Competency Measurement in Electrotechnology) occupational competence diagnostic model to assist TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) college lecturers in transferring skills, knowledge and competencies to their students by applying the dynamics of the model and through various pedagogical strategies. Achieving holistic problem-solving competence is a fundamental goal of the COMET framework and is embedded in eight competence criteria that focus on real-life, complex, work-related problems. A mixed method, explanatory sequential design comprising qualitative and quantitative research methods was adopted. Data were gathered from 275 students and 22 lecturers at five public TVET colleges. Two COMET large-scale open-ended learning tasks and a test task were conducted to measure the occupational competence of TVET students and lecturers. Lecturer data on competence scores, experiences of doing the task, and teaching and learning strategies were collected. Analysis of the data employed the SPSS version 26 and R Studio 4.0. This study demonstrated that lecturers were indeed able to transfer their skills and knowledge to students. Areas of learning in which transfer was strong and areas in which transfer could be enhanced were identified using the COMET diagnostic model. The evidence further indicated that a variety of pedagogic strategies – for instance, feedback, metacognition, cognitive apprenticeship, problem-based learning and work-integrated learning – are used to enhance transfer and are most effective when used interchangeably or integrated.
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    Exploring the design and implementation of an entrance readiness assessment and its relationship with performance outcomes among first year TVET college students
    (University of the Western Cape, 2024) De Wee, Marissa Francine; Papier, Joy
    Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college entrance/placement tests have been critiqued in the few studies done in South Africa because they offer insufficient information about vocational students and their potential for success or failure. In light of the limitations associated with current entrance-testing mechanisms in South African TVET colleges and the limited information they afford colleges about entry-level students, this study set out to investigate alternative models or instruments that might yield a more holistic and informative picture, particularly with regard to students who might not complete their studies. The aims of this study were therefore to explore the development of a more appropriate entry-level readiness assessment for first-year TVET college students and to examine the possible relationships between their profiles at entry and their success/lack of success at the end of the first year. It was anticipated that the research findings could contribute to the sparse local knowledge base on these crucial issues in the South African TVET context. Using a pragmatic approach and mixed methods of data gathering within a convergent parallel design, a model that had been tested in international education systems was applied as a framework into which local input obtained from college experts was integrated to produce an entrance assessment instrument that was administered to first year college students. Qualitative and quantitative data were juxtaposed with first year performance outcomes, and statistical analyses conducted produced noteworthy associations among the findings. The research ultimately demonstrated that existing TVET college placement tests are severely limited in acknowledging the multifaceted nature of education and the diverse strengths and challenges that students bring to the learning journey. What was further revealed were the many taken-for-granted assumptions about TVET college students and their performance that require ongoing interrogation so that interventions remain at the cutting edge rather than relying on what may be outdated norms and stereotypes.
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    How do FET College educators explain the role and function of college occupational training units? A case study
    (University of the Western Cape, 2008) Needham, Seamus; Omar, Rahmat; Papier, Joy; Faculty of Education
    This paper documents a case study of the Innovation and Development Divisions of two public FET Colleges. The research asked the following question:How do FET College educators explain the role and function of college occupational training units.
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    An investigation into barriers to participation in adult learning among refugees: The case of the Somalis in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Kakai, Kasifa; Papier, Joy
    This study seeks to investigate barriers to participation in adult learning among Somali refugees in Cape Town. It draws on scholarship around various conceptual frameworks on migration perspectives, and barriers to participation in adult learning, as lenses to understand and explain the experiences of the Somali refugee community. The Refugee Act of 1998 was promulgated post-democracy in South Africa. One of the objectives of this Act was to redress past inequalities by providing access to education for all the people of South Africa including foreigners who are refugees or immigrants legally settled in the country. Due to various challenges, not all refugees and migrants have access to education that would provide them with the necessary skills to enter the job market. Without access to the formal labour market, they resort to informal activities that enable them to generate cash and sustain livelihoods. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the gender dimension is important since women particularly are subject to prejudices and disadvantages that deny them entry into the labour market, both informal and formal. This study therefore investigated barriers to participation in adult learning among refugees. One of the main purposes of the research was to examine the impediments, which inhibit both men and women refugees from access to a decent education and opportunities for adult learning in South Africa. The methodology adopted was a qualitative research design. Through focused, in-depth interviews with a sample grouping of a Somali refugee community, insights were obtained into the challenges and blockages to learning access that are prevalent. The sample size comprised 50 participants: 25 males and 25 females, which were arrived at using the snowball sampling technique. An in-depth interview protocol guided the discussion, which was intended to elicit personal narratives. The findings of the study revealed that both men and women experience institutional, situational, dispositional and academic barriers, which prevent them from participating in adult learning programmes and other learning opportunities in spite of their willingness to do so. However, women particularly suffer from a lack of access due to cultural and religious norms, which limit their participation as women learners. This additional barrier proved to be a substantive situational barrier that did not affect Somali men. This study makes several recommendations that are based on the research findings. Participants generally desired sufficient access to adult learning programmes, harmonious living and integration within communities, and to employment opportunities, education funding support, and increased public awareness of such learning opportunities through seminars and workshops.
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    Revisiting the role of the ‘expert other’ in learners’ acquisition of workplace competence
    (UKZN, 2017) Papier, Joy; Vollenhoven, Gerald
    Skills development policies in South Africa and further afield consider learning in and from the workplace as critical to the training of artisans at intermediate level, bringing together theoretical learning undertaken in formal institutions and practical, on-the-job training for the purpose of achieving occupational competence, demonstrated ultimately in the prescribed trade test. Ellstrom (2001) asserts that “in spite of a widespread belief in the importance of integrating learning and work, little is known about the conditions that promote such integration” (p.421). While apprenticeship training has a long history in South Africa, and historical anecdotal accounts exist of the workplace experiences of trainee artisans, there are only a few recent local empirical studies that have advanced our understanding of this domain. This research thus sought to investigate learning in the workplace from the perspective of the candidates: the methodologies, practices, and affordances for learning which they perceived to be available to them, and employed a qualitative approach for exploring how candidates in engineering trades experienced the ‘real world environment’ of learning and engagement in the workplace. The juxtaposition of complementary theories that lent themselves to explaining workplace learning phenomena, in particular the works of Engeström (1987); Vygotsky (1978); and Lave and Wenger (1991), formed a richly informative system for the data which showed that candidates experienced diverse learning modalities and affordances in their workplace settings. However, the central role of the expert artisan as a quintessential didactic practitioner in moving candidates towards competence was a significant finding, pointing ultimately to the need for collective effort in harnessing the teaching potential of this ‘expert other’.
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    Workplace learning experiences of TVET college candidates in learnership programmes : an exploration of the workplace learning environment
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Vollenhoven, Gerald; Papier, Joy
    Skills development policies in South Africa and further afield consider learning in and from the workplace as critical to the training of artisans at intermediate level. Since the inception of democracy, South Africa has become part of a globally competitive economic arena where highly skilled workers capable of engaging with new technology in a changing environment are increasingly required. Continuous innovation, it is held (Kraak, 1997), is dependent on the presence of two knowledge forms in society and work: an abundance of formal (scientific and technological) knowledge, and skilled worker 'know-how' or tacit knowledge. In the present system of technical and vocational education, theoretical learning and some practical skills are obtained in institutions, mostly in the recently renamed TVET colleges, while job specific training occurs through prescribed periods of work placement. In light of common assumptions about the value of workplace learning, this research was concerned with exploring whether, and how such learning is taking place. It sought to understand the methodologies, practices, and affordances available to learning in the workplace, from the perspective of candidate apprenticeship/learnership students. To this end this study employed a qualitative approach for investigating how candidates experienced and interacted with the 'real world environment' of the workplace. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposively selected sample comprising candidates engaged in programmes that necessitated a workplace learning component, namely, the apprenticeship and learnership in fitting and turning, motor/diesel and the auto electrical trades. Data analysis was undertaken using both Atlas ti software and manual methods for coding and identification of themes. Lenses used to describe and explain learning in the workplace included the conceptual frameworks of Engestrom‘s (1987) Activity theory; Vygotsky‘s (1978) notion of learning via the 'expert other' within a Zone of Proximal Development; and Lave and Wenger‘s (1991) theorising of situated learning in Communities of Practice. This triangular juxtaposition of complementary theories formed a richly informative explanatory system for my further exploration. As a qualified artisan myself I was familiar with the negative connotations of a historical 'sit by Nellie' approach, a phrase used to caricature the way apprentices learned in the past, by simply being passive observers of the experts. However, my findings were to reveal a vastly different picture of learning in this modern, visual and tactile age. Learners in this study experienced a range of learning modalities, methodologies and affordances that were reported in 'thick' descriptions, building a vivid picture of engagement and interaction. In addition to the abundance of learning opportunities candidates experienced, their responses revealed the indisputably central role played by 'expert others' in moving them towards competence – the expert artisan emerging as the quintessential didactic practitioner. This thesis proceeds to highlight the experiences of candidates on their learning journey in the workplace, and suggests recommendations in respect of these. Key learnings are distilled, which ultimately point to the need for collective effort in appreciating and retaining for the benefit of future generations of artisans, the mentoring potential that exists in our expert artisans wherever they may be found.