Student support officers' perceptions of student support provision in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges (Formerly Further Education and Training [FET] Colleges) in South Africa have undergone many changes since 1994. The sector has been reformed with much policy change. There are currently 50 multi-campus sites spread across South Africa. Government has realized the plight of many jobless youth. The lack of trained workers with certain scarce skills has therefore come to light in the world of work. TVET Colleges have the potential to answer this need. In 2007, a new curriculum, National Certificate (Vocational) [NC(V)] was rolled out to replace the National Assembly Training and Education Department or NATED (N1-6) qualifications. This new curriculum was described as an equivalent to Grades 10 to 12, with students generally being between the ages of 16 and 18. Most of the students enrolled for these courses hold bursaries. Of concern for this study is the low throughput rate of roughly 40% of this age group per year, since roll-out in 2007.In this generic qualitative research study framed with a constructivist paradigm, I set out to explore the student support officers' perceptions of providing support to these NC(V) students that did not pass their courses. I made use of semi-structured individual and telephonic interviews to gather data and the respondents were selected based on their role within the college. I developed thematic networks to organize the data before analyzing it into themes. Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological framework served as the theoretical framework underlying my research.Findings showed that the roles of the student supporters were not clearly defined. This lead to many challenges within the performance of their roles. Student supporters thus seemed to be in constant battle to support the students. In addition, working with adolescent students in the TVET College sector also presented unique challenges, since they are a new cohort of students entering the colleges. The student supporters shared recommendations that could be considered for the development of their roles within the college sector.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University