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Who Started the Rumour: Free Training?
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Some institution at some time or another told some prospective client, “We do free training!” And there and then started the mess. Perhaps it meant, “Because we are contracted to the so-and-so SETA, we can do your training and free you of all the admin?” But the clarification was omitted………….It’s laughable that anyone actually believes this. Surely all South Africans involved in Education and Training understand where the SETA funding comes from?
It’s no joke for any of us because the implications are growing increasingly negative. The term “free training” is starting to degrade the perception of training. Many workplaces only want “free training” regardless of whether the learner receives quality training or not. I know of real cases where providers of excellence are currently not delivering their courses because they don’t offer “free” training. Whether this “free” is a case of a lazy tongue, or false advertising, the sad reality is that the person who is losing out the most is the learner. Again.
Hi All, I agree with Paula. I was involved with the various Setas’ voucher project and always made my clients aware that this is a project and that the quality assurance aspect will remain. However, as Paula indicated, the clients now only ak about ‘freebies’. The culprits should in future ask for suggestions on Skills Universe before using incorrect inappropriate word.
Hi All, I agree with Paula. I was involved with the various Setas’ voucher project and always made my clients aware that this is a project and that the quality assurance aspect will remain. However, as Paula indicated, the clients now only ak about ‘freebies’. The culprits should in future ask for suggestions on Skills Universe before using incorrect inappropriate word.
Hi All, I agree with Paula. I was involved with the various Setas’ voucher project and always made my clients aware that this is a project and that the quality assurance aspect will remain. However, as Paula indicated, the clients now only ak about ‘freebies’. The culprits should in future ask for suggestions on Skills Universe before using incorrect inappropriate word.
Paula and Maphuthi, thank you very much for the interesting discussion regarding the ‘free training’ concept. I think there are two approaches here, one which is a marketing oriented activity in which a training provider utilises a free training selling strategy to land clients by offering some of its training for free, followed by paid training to obviously make some money. This approach needs to be distinguished from the SETA-voucher system for levy-payers, NGO’s and SMME’s which looks at providing ‘free training’ that eliminates a direct cost per learner to the beneficiary organization, who theoretically should only be covering indirect or secondary costs for their learners such as travel, meals, accommodation, etc. Unfortunately allot ‘free-training’ approaches utilised in South Africa have not grown to the point or maturity where they provide absolute clarity about what one is accountable for from a training provider perspective and what you as the company will receive in terms of the training from the provider. Picking up on the point that some levy-payers only request ‘free-training’ or SETA-funded training is a reality out there, as there are some organisations that may not implement training or budget for it. This practice should really be discouraged where possible by educating the client organisation about the obvious issue that they need to recognise the intrinsic value that their employees and people bring to the organisation and its profitability. Specifically that our training will assist their staff improve their workplace performance back at the workplace. I have a few of these kind of clients, but always try and encourage them as much as possible to shift paradigms. Not easy mind you and when they do start to see immediate impact or benefits back to the business some become powerful ambassadors for training and development.
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