Assessing skills development management for lecturers in technical vocational education and training colleges in North West Province

Abstract

As South Africa’s economic and development initiatives shift towards the global focus on employees’ skills development in the 21st century, the management of employees’ skills development is still a challenge, particularly in the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector. This skills development gap exists in TVET Colleges in the North West province; hence this research assessed the skills development management for lecturers in TVET Colleges in North West province. The study assessed the level of lecturers’ teaching skills capacity; the management process used in skills development initiatives; the challenges with regard to lecturers’ skills development management and examined the strategies which may improve the skills development management in TVET Colleges in North West province. A mixed methods approach was adopted in this study and the respondents consisted of all Human Resources (HR) managers, all Heads of Departments (HoDs), all lecturers and all students in TVET Colleges in North West province. Quantitative data was collected from lecturers and students through questionnaires while Qualitative data was gathered from managers by means of in depth face to face interviews. Major findings obtained in this study revealed that there is little or insufficient training being provided to lecturers in the North-West province, even though the level of lecturers’ teaching skills seems to be low. It was also realised that the skills development management process for TVET lecturers is not effective due to lack of planning, unavailability of policies, lack of consultation, no motivation to take up training and no skills auditing being done. However, recommendations which emanated from the study suggest that managers should strategically plan the skills development process for TVET lecturers and ensure that the development is aligned to teaching and learning objectives. Effective implementation and evaluation of the skills development process by managers could lead to more positive skills development management results.