The Challenges of Implementing a Humanising Pedagogy in Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges in South Africa

Employee engagement refers to what takes place when people are interested in a positive way and when they are excited about their jobs, exercise discretionary behaviour and are motivated to achieve high levels of performance. The present research therefore examined employee engagement of the academic staff in the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in South Africa. A quantitative design was used. In total, 2 054 academic staff completed the questionnaire. A self-administered 4-point Likert-type scale questionnaire was developed. The data was gathered and then analysed by using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings. An employee engagement framework, which incorporates the main ideas of the article, suggests a new perspective about how to foster and manage employee engagement in today’s workplace is presented.

ABSTRACTIn this case study research, the effectiveness of psychological support services rendered to students at a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college in South Africa is explored. Using the systems theory of psychology, the article postulates that students at TVET colleges encounter a myriad of psychological challenges, which can adversely affect their academic success. From an interpretivist paradigmatic standpoint, a sample of 30 students was purposively selected to participate in focus group interviews. It was found out that psychological support services improved students’ academic performances, attendance, retention, and also enhanced college certification rate. It is recommended that institution need to establish linkages with key stakeholders such as the Departments of Higher Education and Training and Health, psychological professional bodies, and other TVET colleges in order to create a platform for sharing vital information on psychological support to students.

Background: Case studies are core constructs used in information management research. A persistent challenge for business, information management and social science researchers is how to select a representative sample of cases among a population with diverse characteristics when convenient or purposive sampling is not considered rigorous enough. The context of the study is post-school education, and it involves an investigation of quantitative methods of clustering the population of public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in South Africa into groups with a similar level of maturity in terms of their information systems.Objectives: The aim of the study was to propose an evidence-based quantitative method for the selection of cases for case study research and to demonstrate the use and usefulness thereof by clustering public TVET colleges.Method: The clustering method was based on the use of a representative characteristic of the context, as a proxy. In this context of management information systems (MISs), website maturity was used as a proxy and website maturity model theory was used in the development of an evaluation questionnaire. The questionnaire was used for capturing data on website characteristics, which was used to determine website maturity. The websites of the 50 public TVET colleges were evaluated by nine evaluators. Multiple statistical techniques were applied to establish inter-rater reliability and to produce clusters of colleges.Results: The analyses revealed three clusters of public TVET colleges based on their website maturity levels. The first cluster includes three colleges with no websites or websites at a low maturity level. The second cluster consists of 30 colleges with websites at an average maturity level. The third cluster contains 17 colleges with websites at a high maturity level.Conclusion: The main contribution to the knowledge domain is an innovative quantitative method employing a characteristic (in this case website maturity) as a proxy for MIS maturity. The method can be applied in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research, to group a population and thereby simplify the process of sample selection of cases for further in-depth investigation.

Addressing drug abuse is crucial in South Africa, especially in Technical and Vocational Education. This study examines educator training for managing student substance abuse. The study utilised a non-experimental quantitative exploratory design, surveying all 337 educators from selected Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges in South Africa’s Limpopo Province. The study discovered that educators consistently linked certain behaviours with suspected student drug abuse, facilitating early identification. However, there was notable diversity in how educators proposed handling students with suspected drug abuse, with a significant portion lacking training in this area. The research highlighted varying perspectives on the significance of educator-student relationships. It points out the crucial need for comprehensive training for Technical and Vocational Education and Training college educators in addressing student drug abuse. The findings provide a foundation for future research and interventions in this domain, not only in South Africa but also in similar educational settings globally.

In this case study, we explored the conceptual errors that National Certificate (Vocational) Level 2 mathematics students at a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in South Africa experience in learning functions. Qualitative data were sourced from a sample of Level 2 (L2) mathematics students (n=17) from a TVET college through test responses and interviews. The findings revealed that the students find it difficult to: recognise a linear function, translate between different representations of a linear function, and identify particular components of a linear function. The findings generally indicated that the students lack conceptual understanding of the linear function. From the interviews, the students pointed to the teachers’ instructional practices as a major contributory factor to the identified difficulties they experienced. Specifically, a lack of exposure to instruction and assessment tasks that involved all representations of functions hindered a deep conceptual understanding of functions.

Marketing higher education is a growing field of expertise in many developing countries. However, little research has been done on marketing Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in South Africa. Evidence suggests that it may suffer from a lack of expertise to provide direction to the practical aspects of marketing TVET Colleges. Most of the marketing practices of Higher Education are underdeveloped and lack a strategic focus when it comes to Technical Vocational Education and Training. For TVET Colleges marketing communication plays an important role in students' recruitment.The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of marketing communication towards students' decision to enrol at Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges. The study was conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where the targeted TVET colleges are based. This is a quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional study conducted among a sample of 400 TVET College students.The results of this study reveal the need for marketing communication in TVET Colleges to be addressed urgently in order to improve public perception and enrolment rates at TVET Colleges. Both the students and TVET Colleges will benefit from the study because marketing and communication as a source of information will assist when selecting a college of choice. In addition, this will assist TVET Colleges in the selection of appropriate marketing communication media to enable proper allocation of marketing budget and resources.The findings of this study will then act as guidelines to determine a more appropriate marketing communication strategy to improve the public perceptions of TVET Colleges to make TVET Colleges a students' first choice.

The Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges in South Africa is a relatively new phenomenon. The colleges in their current format was implemented about 15 years ago.The level of performance of these institutions are overall not at the required level, with some colleges performing better than other.The performance of these institution has a direct impact on the economic development of South Africa as colleges are not producing the necessary vocational and technical skills. As part of the improvement processes there are numerous developmental programmes for lecturers, campus managers and staff. The one neglected area is the development of the Education Specialist. The Education Specialist is at the coal face of academic delivering, as well as the first level management. With the development of Education Specialist leadership skills, as well as involvement in corporate planning, there will be a substantial improvement in student performance. This will have a direct impact on the economic situation of the country. Keywords: Education Specialist, Academic middle manager, Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-6-16 Publication date: March 31 st 2021

Grounded on connectivism learning theory, the current study concedes that beyond the phases of the digital divide, research has shown that there is still a digital literacy gap among Report 191 programme pre-entry level technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college students that require attention. While TVET college students are expected to possess digital skills, research has indicated that on reaching TVET Colleges, many students do not possess the requisite digital literacies. Using a survey design, this quantitative study explored digital literacies amongst Report 191 programme pre-entry level students at a TVET college in South Africa. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 22). With a Cronbach Alpha value of 7.6, the instrument was considered valid and reliable. The findings suggested the prevalence of an uneven/diverse digital literacy prowess among Report 191 programme pre-entry level students. Researchers recommended a focused and differentiated programme of digital literacy support for Report 191 programme pre-entry level students at TVET colleges. This study will help all TVET lecturers and policymakers start to acknowledge how ubiquitous digital literacy skills are becoming in educational settings, not just technological ones. Keywords: Digital Literacy, Internet Access, Pre-Entry Level Students, Report 191 Programme, Technological Devices, TVET

Inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of learners through increasing participation by all categories of learners in the learning environment. A qualitative approach using a phenomenological case study was adopted for this study. The study explored and described the experiences of learners (including a learner with disabilities), staff, and the institutional management team with respect to inclusive practices in Sekhukhume Further Education and Training (FET) College in South Africa. The study found that the institution in question lacked the necessary resources and managerial capacity to implement fully inclusive educational programmes that will meet the special needs of all learners in the institution in question. The provision of resources, professional development of lecturers, capacitating the institutional management and putting monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place can go a long wayin ensuring that inclusive needs of learners with disabilities are met.

<span lang="EN-US">Building an effective organizational culture of high performance has proven to be elusive amongst strategic and operational managers of selected public technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in the Gauteng province in the post-merger period of 2007 to 2010. Poor organizational culture demonstrated by a lack of the Ubuntu principles of humanness and teamwork; management inefficiency and instability undermined the role of public TVET colleges in the Gauteng province, South Africa. The identified knowledge gap is a paucity of information on how the values of Ubuntu are infused into management practices to improve organizational management practices. A mixed methods research approach that adopted multiple case studies, unstructured interviews and survey questionnaires was undertaken to assess an organizational culture and management practices by strategic and operational managers, and lecturers at selected public TVET colleges. Descriptive statistical and thematic analyses were employed to generate, interpret, and analyze the findings from participating managers and lecturers. The findings revealed the need to re-purpose public TVET colleges in South Africa to align with the strategic priorities and goals of the National Development Plan: Vision 2030. Strategic and operational managers should also be capacitated with stakeholder relations building and management skills to create student workplace opportunities with businesses and industries.</span>

The Influence of Compensation on Talent Retention at a TVET College

The focus of this survey is to seek the amount of the customers’ expectations levels of service quality in the public Technical Vocational Education and Training (PTVET) sector. The aim of this study was to examine and determine the expectations and perceptions levels of service quality provided by PTVET colleges, in order to achieve desired outcomes, and the survey followed SERQUAL model. Questionnaires were distributed to the 403 participants from selected PTVET in the Kwa-Zulu- Natal province. The study used a mix approach of systematic and quota sampling techniques. SPSS (25.0) version was employed for data analysis. The results of this study discovered that customers had higher service quality expectations (0,908 Cronbach's Alpha) compared to the service quality perceptions (0,923 Cronbach's Alpha) at the selected PTVET colleges, on all five service quality dimensions that were used to evaluate the expectations of service quality. This survey will benefit Rectors/Campus Managers for TVET colleges and to those who want to open their TVET colleges, because it will be used as a guide tool for them on how they can improve service quality strategy to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The findings are limited by the study’s exploratory, quantitative nature and small sample. Generalisation should be done with care and further research, with a large sample and consideration of other provinces, it therefore recommended.

The focus of this survey is to seek the amount of the customers’ expectations levels of service quality in the public Technical Vocational Education and Training (PTVET) sector. The aim of this study was to examine and determine the expectations and perceptions levels of service quality provided by PTVET colleges, in order to achieve desired outcomes, and the survey followed SERQUAL model. Questionnaires were distributed to the 403 participants from selected PTVET in the Kwa-Zulu- Natal province. The study used a mix approach of systematic and quota sampling techniques. SPSS (25.0) version was employed for data analysis. The results of this study discovered that customers had higher service quality expectations (0,908 Cronbach's Alpha) compared to the service quality perceptions (0,923 Cronbach's Alpha) at the selected PTVET colleges, on all five service quality dimensions that were used to evaluate the expectations of service quality. This survey will benefit Rectors/Campus Managers for TVET colleges and to those who want to open their TVET colleges, because it will be used as a guide tool for them on how they can improve service quality strategy to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The findings are limited by the study’s exploratory, quantitative nature and small sample. Generalisation should be done with care and further research, with a large sample and consideration of other provinces, it therefore recommended.

Student engagement with academics in a classroom environment is one of the oldest and well-known pedagogical strategies while having quality teachers in the classroom is but one indicator of possible student success. In Further Education and Training colleges in South Africa, an 80% classroom attendance is usually required for students to qualify to write their final national examination at the end of the term. The main purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of classroom attendance on the throughput rates of students in a National Certificate offered at a Further Education and Training college in South Africa. The research, on which this study is based, incorporates an ex-post facto study involving a non-experimental correlation design using quantitative data. Results indicate a significant attrition rate of 72%. Senior students in Level 4 seemed to attend more class (average attendance is 55% with 63% passing) as compared to first-year engineering students in Level 2 (average attendance is 48% with 44% passing). Results further show that the throughput rates for Mathematics never exceeded 11%, while students performed very well in Workshop Practice and Electrical Workmanship (peak throughput rate of 100% for Level 3). A key recommendation is to alert management of the non-compliance with the 80% classroom attendance policy, which needs to be revised or re-enforced, so that awareness, transparency and accountability may be promoted.

Reimagining and Innovating A Training Pedagogy in the Times of Uncertainties: The Case for Students in the Eastern Cape Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges in South Africa