Vocational education and training policy issues in South Africa

This chapter examines state policy reform in the Further Education and Training (FET) College sector in South Africa over the past decade. The reforms, intended to make college curricula more responsive to employer needs, have achieved the opposite effect: employer disillusionment. The analysis argues that the reforms have resulted in a supply-led system of vocational education and training (VET) provision in South Africa as has occurred in other Anglo-Saxon countries. More specifically, the FET college sector reforms were centrally imposed with little consultation with employers. The results have been disastrous. College success rates have plummeted and a high percentage of college graduates face unemployment.