Sasol In Society Report - Book - Page 57
Feature
Story
Teacher Assistant Programme
for TVET Education (DRAFT)
This initiative is adapted as a pilot of the remodelled DBE Teacher
Assistant programme in schools with the aim of not only curbing
youth unemployment but to also giving young teachers focused work
experience which they need for employability. The initiative also supports
curriculum delivery by freeing teachers from practical work preparation.
The Sasol Foundation initiated a pilot of a Teacher
Assistant Programme in the Fezile Dabi District.
The programme provides workshop maintenance
assistance to technical schools, as well as laboratory
management assistance to schools. Teacher assistants
were placed across the district in Sasolburg, Parys and
Kroonstad. Seven teacher assistants were recruited
and trained in each field. The teacher assistants were
also equipped with PPE and toolboxes to assist them
to do maintenance and minor repairs at the schools.
Most teacher assistants were unemployed University
of Technology graduates that we contracted to assist
technical vocational curriculum delivery, as well as
laboratory work in schools.
The project has brought much relief to the
technical teachers in the district. The head of
department at HTS Sasolburg indicated that this
was much-needed help. The teacher assistants do
not only concentrate on good housekeeping, but also
provide an extra pair of eyes for the safety of learners
in the workshops. The teacher assistants were also
adjudicators for the skills competition in the district,
because of their qualifications and grasp of technical
school programmes. Upon monitoring, the schools’
laboratories and workshops certainly looked neater
and well-organised compared to the era before the
teacher assistants.
This project will be rolled out to 90 vocational
and occupational schools across the country,
in partnership with DBE and Kagiso Trust, as
a contribution towards the Presidential Youth
Employment Initiative-Basic Education Employment
Initiative (PYEI-BEEI).
Our support for technical education at technical
schools and TVET colleges seeks to address
unemployment in this sector by enlarging the pool
of skilled artisans to match evolving industry needs
in step with technological advances. We have imparted
and contributed our expertise in these high-demand
and scarce skills development initiatives to drive
a meaningful socio-economic impact.
As we make strides in technical education development, we strive to facilitate articulation for high school
graduates to Post School Education and Training (PSET), including TVET colleges and apprenticeships, and not
only universities. We advocate for NCV levels 2-4 courses to be offered at school level instead of TVET
colleges as part of advancing the three-streams model and avoiding duplication in articulation. As we enter
the end of the Decade of the Artisan and the last six years of the NDP 2030 target of 30 000 artisans a year,
a more accelerated mode is envisaged.
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