Opening up TVET lecturer professional learning and development through work integrated learning in South Africa

Abstract

Providing professional learning and development opportunities for lecturers is necessary for enabling ‘open learning’, as promoted by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). In the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector, there are desperate shortages of suitably qualified and experienced lecturers. This shortage is a multifaceted problem, with some staff lacking formal qualifications, some lacking vocational experience, and others lacking professional educator training for the TVET context. This chapter explores how approaches to professional learning and development, particularly work integrated learning (WIL) opportunities for TVET staff, coordinated by DHET through collaborative linkages with industry, drew on and/or contributed to open learning. The study used a range of secondary sources of information, supplemented with five semi-structured interviews and a structured email-based questionnaire. Open learning has a strong social justice intention. Thus, we adopted Fraser’s three-dimensional conceptualisation of social justice to illuminate the extent to which these interventions sought to create conditions of participatory parity, and in so doing address economic, cultural and political injustices experienced by lecturers. The study identifies a number of instances of injustice, including the direct and indirect costs of WIL, the extent to which misrecognition excludes marginalised individuals from WIL, and the extent to which governance structures entrench inequalities. Furthermore, we suggest how the design of these interventions might take these barriers to parity of participation into consideration in future designs. Critically, we suggest that locating WIL in formal learning opportunities, and reviewing merit awards systems might lead to greater uptake and, in the long run, improved teaching and learning.