Abstract
“Traditional/skills-based teaching doesn’t meet the demands of our 21 st century†-Garelick, 2012. The widespread effects of globalisation and new technologies demand rethinking of knowledge creation and labour force preparedness for 21st century development. The rise of a knowledge-based economy and information society requires public managers with human capital sufficient to fulfil developmental challenges. The demand for quality infrastructure in South Africa exceeds existing proficiency of human capital. The 21st century and South Africa’s post 1994 challenges including infrastructure development demand a new generation of public managers and administrators equipped with acuity and negotiation outlooks, communication and problem-solving skills, research and analytical abilities, and cognitive capacity enabling them to promote, influence, and monitor project development and management in a substantially globalized world. From a pedagogical standpoint, while knowledge creation and innovative teaching strategies are arguably drivers of a labour force that meet challenge of development, the authors of this conceptual analytical article contend that traditional approaches of teaching project management in South African higher education institutions (HEIs) fail to adequately prepare students to manage ‘real-world projects’ that foster growth and development. Rather, projectbased learning (PjBL) offers a strategic way forward to fill project management skills gap and project management knowledge deficit in the public sector, which should be subject to the recommended research agenda.
Highlights
Rapid change and the growth of technology resulting from globalisation during the 21st century have complicated the management and the delivery of projects in the public sector
Contemporary concerns with human rights and prosperity for all nations, worldviews associated with post-modernism or post-structuralism aligned with student-centered, social-constructivist-oriented projectbased learning (PjBL) pedagogy seem consistent with a knowledge-based economy and information society.In this regard, this article is based on social constructivist theory, with project-based learning (PjBL) supported as the pedagogical method in public administration and management curriculum
The National Research Foundation, Vision 2015 affirms the need for human capital development that contributes to a vibrant national innovation system (National Research Foundation, 2008)
Summary
Rapid change and the growth of technology resulting from globalisation during the 21st century have complicated the management and the delivery of projects in the public sector. Contemporary concerns with human rights and prosperity for all nations, worldviews associated with post-modernism or post-structuralism aligned with student-centered, social-constructivist-oriented PjBL pedagogy seem consistent with a knowledge-based economy and information society.In this regard, this article is based on social constructivist theory, with project-based learning (PjBL) supported as the pedagogical method in public administration and management curriculum. To help understand the significance of PjBL to workplace preparedness, the article further provides an analysis of project management and successes and failures from a South African public sector context Such failures reaffirm the need for empirical research into the role of PjBL in the development of project leadership and professionals capable of managing public projects in the context of development in the post 1994 era.
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