Leading curriculum change in South African technical and vocational education and training colleges

Tercia Terblanche,Eli Bitzer

doi:10.14426/jovacet.v1i1.16

Abstract

This article proposes that the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) collegecurriculum in South Africa needs restructuring in order for it to support more innovativeresponses to industry requirements and TVET standards. The ultimate aim of this study was todevelop a framework for leading curriculum change in the South African TVET college sector, aframework that will be able to support training and capacity-building among TVET collegeleaders to bring about long-overdue curriculum change. To achieve this aim, curriculumleadership is essential. The multi-phased, mixed-methods research design used in this studyinvolved a questionnaire survey and follow-up group interviews with TVET college staffrepresentative of five TVET colleges in the Western Cape province. Based on these data sources,the study reports on a range of current curriculum challenges in TVET colleges which formed thebasis for suggesting a research-based framework to train leaders to take the initiative in TVETcuriculum change. The study findings confirm the need for TVET college curriculum reform,which, in turn, requires competent curriculum leadership and leadership development. Theresearch therefore contributes to theory and practice in the field of South African TVETcurriculum leadership.

Highlights

The technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college curriculum, which is at the heart of the South African vocational education and training (VET) system, is in serious need of change
The findings on leadership capacity in the TVET institutions represented in this study indicate that the TVET college sector needs leadership programmes to help leaders to bring about curriculum change
From our investigation it became clear that building the capacity of curriculum leadership in the TVET college sector appears to be an urgent matter

Summary

Introduction

The technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college curriculum, which is at the heart of the South African vocational education and training (VET) system, is in serious need of change. This article discusses a study recently conducted to generate views on the current curriculum challenges being experienced by the TVET colleges. It focuses on a suggested framework for leading curriculum change in the TVET college sector, a framework that is able to support the training and capacity-building of college leaders. The demand for technical education to be made available to young people was a response to the industrial development in the late 1800s (Pittendrigh, 1988:167; Abedian & Standish, 1992)

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Conclusion