South Africa’s unemployment rate has risen to 33.6%, with 8.5 million people now unemployed. Those numbers raise an important question about skills development: what is the value of training if it does not prepare people for work? Qualifications matter. But a qualification on its own does not necessarily mean someone can perform the job. The gap between knowing and doing is where much of the conversation needs to focus.
A qualification doesn’t mean someone is ready for work.
Consider a driver’s license. Passing the learner’s test shows an understanding of the rules of the road. It does not mean someone is ready to drive from Johannesburg to Durban. The world of work operates in much the same way. People need the knowledge, but they also need to know how to apply it in a real working environment. Practical experience should therefore play a far greater role in skills development. Where appropriate, qualifications should give people meaningful exposure to the workplace rather than leaving graduates to find that experience afterwards.
An administration qualification, for example, could include six to 12 months working in a department, municipality or organisation. That experience teaches lessons that cannot be fully replicated in a classroom: meeting deadlines, working under pressure, understanding workplace expectations and being accountable for performance. Learnerships and occupational programmes already show what this can look like. By combining theory with practical workplace experience, they give people a better understanding of what the job demands.
Training can’t create jobs, but it can create employability.
This is an important distinction.
Training providers cannot create the jobs South Africa needs. That requires economic growth, investment and action from business and government. Training alone cannot solve unemployment when the economy is not generating enough opportunities.
The role of a training provider is to ensure people ready for the opportunities that do exist. That means training cannot be designed in isolation from the labour market. It needs to be informed by what employers require and by the skills people will need to perform those roles.
Training needs to start with the jobs that exist.
Before a programme is developed, there should be a clear understanding of the skills employers need, how many people they require, where those opportunities exist and how those requirements are likely to change. Otherwise, there is a risk of training people for jobs that simply are not there. This becomes particularly difficult in fast-moving sectors such as technology, where skills requirements can change faster than education and accreditation systems can respond. The answer is not to compromise on quality or accreditation. It is to create much stronger links between industry, government and training institutions.
Business needs a stronger voice in identifying skills gaps and defining what people need to be able to do. Government can connect funded training programmes to areas of economic activity and infrastructure development. Training providers can translate those requirements into programmes that develop the right capabilities.
People entering the education system also need better information about where opportunities exist. Studying simply to obtain a qualification is not enough if there is no clear connection to the labour market.
The real measure of training is what happens next.
The success of a training programme should not be measured only by the number of people who complete it or the certificates that are issued. The more important question is what those people are able to do afterwards.
Are they able to perform the work? Do they understand the expectations of the workplace? Can they contribute from day one? Do they have the practical experience to stand out when competing for an opportunity?
South Africa does not need fewer qualified people. It needs a stronger connection between qualifications, practical capability and employment. Training alone cannot create the economic conditions that generate jobs. But it can make sure that when opportunities exist, people are equipped to take them.
A qualification should be the starting point. The real goal is to ensure people are ready to work.
Written by Daniel Orelowitz – MD at Training Force