BACKGROUND
One of the obligations of the Department of Higher Education and training (DHET) is to increase access to education and training opportunities for all South Africans. In specific the DHET has to address the issues of youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), and those who experience barriers to learning.Such barriers include geographical distance from institutions, discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, or physical disability, financial abilities, the inability to take time off work to take a course, the lack of ‘appropriate’ qualifications, and the use of pedagogical approaches that themselves restrict the accessibility of learning, training and expertise. The DHET has adopted open learning as a strategy to increase access to education and training opportunities for all, and to construct quality learning environments which take account of learners’ contexts, and use the most appropriate and cost-effective methods and technologies. In 2017, the DHET will release an Open Learning Policy Framework for Post-school Education and Training (PSET) that will direct and provide guidelines for the implementation of open learning in the PSET system as outlined in the 2014 White Paper for Post School-Education and Training. The DHET supports the development of open learning opportunities as an integral part of the PSET system, and not as an add-on or second-best to face-to-face and/or classroom engagements. The Occupational Certificate: Electrician programme has been identified as the first programme for development within an open learning framework.It supports the aims and objectives of the National Development Plan (2012), as well as the National Infrastructure Plan (2012). The DHET has identified the electrician trade as a priority trade and a critical skill required for the construction and maintenance of the Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs). |