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This discussion follows Minister Nzimande's support to end corruption. I still smile at his response "utter crap", and wish that we used it more often when politicians take as for fools.
There is a problem that should probably be called exploitation - rather than corruption, but is also destructive to implementation of skills develpment.
Everybody will agree that we work in a very complex landscape.
We constantly see how different bodies & institutions are not understood, or they appear to misunderstand their own landscape, by producing legislation that is inconsistent, or unimplementable.
We have:
* the Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET), the
* structures such as the Sector Education & Training Authority (SETA) x21 with Board members and internal administrators, the
* various institutions, such as the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), the
* Quality Councils (QCs), who comprise the Council for Higher Education (CHE), the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), & UMALUSI -
* and then all of us - as individuals, and companies - trying to practice, to train, to assess, or to implement skills development as Skills Development Facilitators (SDF)s.
(And of course all the acronyms I left out - NLRD, TVET, NAMB, EISA, etc., and I didn't even start on provider accreditation.)
So it is understandable how one of the key areas of exploitation is new-comers into the landscape. Recently Lynell Farrell posted on Facebook about the volume of queries she receives - at all hours of the day or night. I certainly can relate to that because people approach me off-line for advice.
My response is - it is like driving through a busy intersection, that is a known accident zone - there are always a few bakkies waiting for the work - to tow away and transport the accident vehicles. That is what exists in our skills development landscape (I don't know whether they drive bakkies), but they certainly wait and prey upon new-comers.
People who sell material as "accredited training material" - knowing full-well that there is no such thing.
Providers who train people as assessors - but the newly "qualified" assessors don't know what a SETA is, or whether they are automatically able to assess, how, where, what, or has absolutely no subject-matter expertise.
And people who have attended SDF training, but don't know whether they must register, or whether they can just start, and ask - I am now trained and qualified - how and where can I find work?
So this is a suggestion that is inspired by Maryna Ritter - an active Board member in Association for Skills Development in South Africa (ASDSA).
How would it be if ASDSA set up a new sub-section, with registration of new practitioners, for a small fee, where new-comers (new training providers, newly qualified assessors, etc.) could register - maybe like a candidature.
Over time standard questions would become clear, and could be made freely available, but members of the professional body could serve as mentors in their specific area/speciality - also for an agreed fee.
By the way - do you see someone as an expert in their area? Have you considered how they became expert? How much have they read, or studied, and how much have they paid to attend training and study programmes? How do they remain up-to-date and current? How much does that cost? So why should you expect to receive the benefit of their advice - for free?
How do we stop exploitation? How do we improve the quality and professionalism of what we do?
Welcome your thoughts and suggestions - please post your ideas.
