DHET: 2nd Annual Career Development Stakeholders Conference: 28 to 29 June 2018

“...to bring all key stakeholders together in an institutional structure to ensure that coordination and collaboration in Career Development Services are sustained and further enhanced for the good of all citizens.”
National Policy for an Integrated Career Development System for South Africa, 2017, p 28
Click here for the DHET Stakeholders Conference Website
SAKAN Comments and Observations from the Conference
khethaThis page provides a record of SAKAN’s participation in the 2nd Annual Career Development Stakeholders' Conference hosted by the Department of Higher Education and Training on 28th and 29th June 2018. The opinions expressed, and the choice of extracts from the excellent presentations, are those of SAKAN alone, and do not reflect the official or unofficial opinions and selections of the DHET or the presenters. The purpose of this SAKAN section is to link the conference proceedings directly to the SAKAN initiative and strategies, to inform SAKAN partners and site readers, and to facilitate local and global collaboration and coordination of all relevant knowledge, opinions, actions and strategies. South Africa is not alone in facing the triple threats of inequality, poverty and unemployment. SAKAN believes that a global “call to arms” is the best approach to resolving these global challenges. Such an approach aligns well with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) initiative which addresses these and more global challenges that face humanity as a whole.
Presentations
Day 1: 28 June 2018 (click icons to download files)
wordiconMinister Pandor’s speech to the Career Development Service Conference: Summary of key content issues:

  • National Policy for an Integrated Career Development System for South Africa launched.
  • The policy is not a DHET policy but a national policy spanning all spheres of government.
  • This conference is about careers in a changing world and the impact of automation and machine learning on jobs now and in the future.
  • We have an oversupply of low-skilled workers and an under-supply of high-skilled workers. We struggle to compete in labour-intensive global markets - our unskilled workers are too expensive and our high-level skills are too few.
  • How do we address the World Economic Forum’s projection that one in three jobs in South Africa – almost 5.7 million – are currently at risk of total digital automation over the next decade?
  • Reference note: South African (NPC) & World Bank partnership produced the reportSystemic Partnership Diagnosis identifying key constraints that on eliminating poverty and reducing inequality - “Insufficient skills” is the most critical.

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pdficon KEYNOTE ADRESS: The 4IR: The Future of Work: MR KEKANA:

  • Machines work better than humans: continuing automation and digitization of our world and our workplace is a seismic shift.
  • Up to 47% of all jobs automated in the near future.
  • Private & public sectors will demand new skills to seize 4IR opportunities and mitigate its risks.
  • Proactive collaboration & inclusive approach needed to reduce 4IR possibility of widening inequality and leaving masses behind.

pdficon Sustainable development in Africa through Science, Technology and Innovation: DR KANAKANA-KATUMBA:
  • The critical role of Science, Engineering, Technology, Innovation (SETI) in the 4IR world.
  • Impact of SETI on sustainable development in South Africa and the world.
  • Disruptive Technologies and their impact on what and how we must teach in the 4IR world.
  • POLICY: The STEM pipe is not just leaking - it is broken. The policies we need to educate for the 4IR.
pdficonDisruptive vs Incremental Change in Education, Training and Employment: DR SEFOTHO:
  • Disruptive change in education & Training: Three levels of the evolving university discussed.
  • Techno-age Evolution: Changing employment landscape; African paradox - technology versus people?.
  • Redesign concept of employment: Radical transformation in Education, Careers, Jobs.
  • Technology drives Future of Work - radical disruption is inevitable.
pdficon Government's Response to mitigate risks associated with the 4IR: MS MORWANE:
Key issues directly related to the 4IR:
  • ICT knowledge, understanding, usage.
  • Numeracy: Understanding data & statistics; machine input/output manipulation; data-driven decision-making.
  • Technological appropriation: build, operate, maintain, use networked technologies.
  • Critical and creative thinking: Adapt to and drive technologically-driven change.
Day 1: 28 June 2018: Parallel Session 1
Information for a changing world: Relevance of career information
pdficonDR DU TOIT, INDEPENDENT RESEARCH SERVICES:

  • “Information serves no purpose unless it attracts attention by its relevance, practical use and positive impacts on people’s lives...”
  • Careers are now increasingly being seen, not as being “chosen”, but as being constructed through a series of decisions about learning and work, throughout life...
  • Career Information in the context of South Africa: Role of career information; Sources & management of career information; Features, type, and channels of career information.

pdficonDR RAYOMD PATEL, merSETA: Leaders in closing the skills gap:

  • Tougher times, greater pressure, faster pace: A "new world" demand for creative urgency in the transformation of career development strategies.
  • The critical links between careers and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) analyzed and discussed: All 17 SDGs impacted by the 4IR.
  • Careers, skills, jobs, inequality, poverty - all impacted by how we relate to the 4IR: “Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one’s full potential as a human being”: Amartya Sen.

pdficonProf Michael Rogan, Rhodes University: ‘Matching higher education and the labour market’:
  • Graduate under/unemployment: Tremendous waste of human and financial resources; reflects poorly on the higher education system; a mismatch between skills supply and skills demand?; an over-supply of certain skills?.
  • Presentation of the results of graduate tracer study from the Eastern Cape: "Pathways through University and into the Labour Market."
  • Concluding question: when and how should information on careers be provided?
Parallel Session 2: Panel discussion - no presentations
Day 1: 28 June 2018: Parallel Session 3
Government tackling youth unemployment
pdficonSkills Development: Responses to the challenge of youth unemployment: Dr. Bangani Ngeleza:
  • Scenarios for South Africa:
  • iSbhujwa: Epitomising a loose-limbed, jumpy nation with frenetic edge, iSbhujwa is a South African Nation torn by deepening social divides, daily protests and cynical self-interest.
  • Nayi le Walk: A Nation in step with itself: In a precise sequence of steps, this scenario choreographs a vision of a South Africa where growing social cohesion, economic expansion, and a renewed spirit of constitutionalism get South Africa going.
  • Gwara-Gwara: A Floundering false dawn: In a national torn between immobility and restless energy, Gwara Gwara embodies a demoralized land of disorder and decay.
  • South Africa has choices: survive the increasingly complex and dangerous world with the help or 4IR technologies, or face a turbulent uncertain future in an irreversibly changed world.
pdficonGovernment talking youth unemployment – Contribution of the Public Service: MR KHUZWAYO, DPSA:
  • A detailed presentation of the views, roles, activities and plans for career development with a special focus on the public sector.
  • Balancing Talent Demand with the Development Agenda: "Unlike private sector organizations who can simply disinvest from a country with unattractive skills base, the Public Service cannot, and it also needs to balance its needs for talent and the need to create employment for the citizens."
  • Legislative and Policy Framework: A detailed review of the policy framework for public service employment and skills development, with special reference to the provisions of the National Development plan.
  • Proposal for an Integrated Talent Development & Management Strategy: A detailed review of the Public Service HRD Strategic Framework with approval process and implementation plans.
wordiconAddressing Youth Unemployment: Steven Zwane, Chief Executive Officer, NSFAS:

  • "Youth unemployment has characterized the struggles of our young people in the past years and still continue to do so currently": (a) The high rate of student drop outs from institutions of higher learning; (b) The misalignment of studies chosen by students, with the current economic demands.
  • "The South African economy has now entered in the fourth digital revolution and government has enshrined policy objectives to this effect. The fourth digital revolution simply means that technology and digital innovation sectors are now the most prioritized focus areas of our industrial policy action. We need strong career guidance initiatives at school level, to educate learners about these issues, so that they align their career choices with the future....."
  • The need to fund South Africa's youth as they grapple with the 4IR challenges is clearly recognized by the NSFAS;
Day 2: 29 June 2018
wordiconAddress by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Buti Manamela: Highlights from the speech:
  • Career development is a lifelong learning process that requires government to ensure that all citizens of all ages have equal access to quality and relevant career information in order for them to make informed choices as they exercise their constitutional right to choose trade, occupation and profession.
  • Global changes have an impact in how we plan for skills development and facilitate economic participation of all citizens. Our panel discussion on the changing world of work will further illuminate the global and local challenges. The need to equip citizen’s especially young people with transferable skills and equipping them for careers that are required for a changing world is the responsibility of all spheres of government, the private sector and civil society.
  • Continued fragmentation, duplications and gaps in the career development services systems in South Africa causes poor access to careers services, a lack of credible career information and duplication of state resources. This limits the ability of our country to develop a skilled and capable workforce for an inclusive growth path. The policy creates an enabling environment to guide coordinated implementation of career development services across all spheres of government.
pdficon The 4IR in developing countries - A Business Perspective: Prof Tankiso Moloi: Key issues and questions raised by the presentation:

  • “The future is already here – it's just not very evenly distributed.” (William Gibson). This introductory quotation suggests a clear approach and strategy for the subject of this conference – future careers must focus on evenly distributing this future!
  • The fusion of technologies in the 4IR blurs the segmentations that define traditional businesses and the roles of “their human resources”. The design and production of goods and services ranging from agricultural products to highly sophisticated medical appliances and pharmaceuticals; the distribution and sales of these goods and services; and even their utilization by both humans and machines, are being increasingly automated. What impact will such automation have on the businesses, their human resource consumers and producers, and the careers they need for this future?
  • In the context of this conference, what career paths and/or academic and vocational disciplines are needed for this still emerging human-driven phenomenon? The presentation raises many questions that must be addressed systematically, and urgently.

pdficonNational Career Advice Portal (NCAP), Letshego Mokeki, Career Development Services, DHET:
  • This excellent outline of DHET's principal tool for the management of the national careers development agenda raises more questions than it answers, questions related to the sheer weight of the highly uncertain future of the world of work under the 4IR. The process outlined is vital, valid even under the disruptive influences of the 4IR, but the content of the careers being managed need greater thought, creativity, and vision.
  • The "big question" that arises from this presentation is best captured by the 1968 insights of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and the insights derived from it as espoused by Noam Chomsky, said to be one of the world’s most prescient thinkers, in "Education for whom and for what?"
  • In addressing the conundrum, how can South Africa's career development processes emulate the success of youngsters like Siyabulela Lethuxolo Xuza, who, with only the excellent nurturing from his mother and community, achieved the dream of having a planet named after him at age 25?
SUMMARY OF THE CONFERENCE AND VOTE OF THANKS, MS MFENYANA
DHET Summary Please click the image to access the presentation

Day 2: 29 June 2018: Parallel Session 1
​Information for a changing world: Social inclusion in a changing world
pdficonSocial Inclusion in a Changing World: Mr Walter Brown (Retired): Advocate in ICT for Human Development:

  • The the central theme of this presentation is a review of the major barriers to South Africa's sustainable development, specifically the triple threats of inequality, poverty and unemployment, with special attention on their impact on the lives and futures of children and youth.
  • The presentation begins with a short discussion on the nature of the 4IR, and suggests that it is not a revolution at all, but a progressive evolution of technology. This suggestion draws from the scientific evidence of the birth of the Technology Industry excavated in the numerous archaeological and heritage sites strewn across South Africa. Each generation of technological innovations draws from previous knowledge to create the current and future technologies.
  • A detailed statistical analysis of inequality, poverty and unemployment is provided, with suggestions of how all the technologies of the 4IR can be used for their amelioration and ultimate reversal, thereby positioning the 4IR as a potent instrument for development.
  • The impact of South Africa's triple threats on the lives and wellbeing of children is emphasized throughout the presentation. With statistics in the public domain showing that 78% of the nation's grade 4 learners are unable to read in any language, and 63% of the nations children live below the national poverty lines, the suggestion by a leading South African Educator Dr Nic Spaull, nothing short of a "Marshall Plan" is needed to ensure that the 4IR fuels national development instead of impeding it. The presentation concludes that as the custodian of all national skills development, the leadership role of the DHET in this regard cannot be understated.

pdficonMr Benny Palime: White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (WPRPD):

  • Mr Palime provided a details outline of the national policies, legal frameworks, guidelines, and institutional arrangements, and the implementation matrices set up by the Government of South Africa to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities, thereby improving their wellbeing in the fully inclusive society as required by the Constitution.
  • A clear definition of persons with disabilities is provided to remove any actual or perceived ambiguities in the public domain: "Disability is imposed by society when a person with a physical, psychosocial, intellectual, neurological and/or sensory impairment is denied access to full participation in all aspects of life, and when society fails to uphold the rights and specific needs of individuals with impairments."
  • In a nine-point list of general obligations related to the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedom of all persons with disabilities, two obligations are specific to the 4IR: (a) research aimed at developing cost-effective goods and services, equipment and facilities, that promote the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of societal engagement and activities; (b) research and development aimed at leveraging all new technologies, mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies to serve the needs of persons with disabilities.
  • The whole range of evolving 4IR technologies, including AI, autonomous mobility machines, the Internet of Things (IoT), are eminently suitable to serve the needs of persons with disabilities through inspired application and innovation. In the context of this conference, it is necessary to focus on career development for the persons with disabilities themselves, and those that support them.

Day 2: 29 June 2018: Parallel Session 2
​Change agents for education, training and employment: Realities of Career Development Practitioners in South Africa
pdficonProf Alban Burke, PsyCaD (UJ): The Changing World of Work

  • Professor Burke provides a comprehensive description of the "evolution" of the 4IR from its preceding "revolutions", supported by a detailed description of the career management process offered by the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development (PsyCaD).
  • The presentation identifies two key and nine subordinate techno-leaning positive attributes of the 4IR, seven key social-leaning positive attributes, and eight key negative consequences of the 4IR. A critical negative attribute is the hollowing-out of the market demand for mid-level skills which will be replaced by growing demands for high end "4IR designer" skills and very low-level skills to perform manual tasks that cannot be automated.
  • Observation: Professor Burke's presentation must of necessity focus on the students that enter the University of Johannesburg's system. In dealing with the opportunities and risks of the 4IR, it is necessary to note another University of Johannesburg study by Dr Andre van Zyl: 45% of learners drop out before matric; 18% of matric graduates enter university; 50% to 60% of these drop out in the first year. What career development is required for the 95% of South African children that cannot graduate? How can we craft a 4IR-ready career development programme for the 63% of South African children who live below the national poverty lines, or the 78% of learners who cannot read in any language at grade 4?

pdficonNombulelo Nxesi, Chief Executive Officer, ETDP SETA:

  • This presentation outlines a case study of the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA), the Career Development Officer’s Project (CDO). This project responds to the South African Constitution's prescript that “Every citizen has the right to choose their trade, occupation or profession freely”.
  • The 5-year CDO project was launched in 2012/2013 comprised 200 unemployed graduates to be trained as Career Development Officers, with an additional 113 prospective CDOs placed at the satellite campuses of the TVET colleges. Each trainee CDO was paid a stipend of R3000 per month initially, rising to R5000 per month from April 2013, with a further stipend increase to R6500 after graduation in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017.
  • The ETDP SETA CDO project was implemented through a partnership with UNISA's Programme for Career Guidance Officers and the SAQA capacity building workshops, through a "12 month certificate programme that was offered to the 313 CDOs by Unisa’s Centre for Continuous Professional Teacher and Community Education and Training".
  • Institutionalizing the CDO’s Project: Following the gazetting of the “National Policy for an integrated Career Development System for South Africa”, ETDP SETA is currently exploring the possibility of institutionalizing the CDO Project through collaborative partnerships with other SETAs and the TVET college sub-sector.

pdficonMr A. Keun, Managing Director: Africa and Australia, Thomas International.

  • Thomas International USA inc. introduces itself as the "largest privately owned global provider of people assessment tools and the only provider with bespoke Education and Sport divisions." Thomas International is headquartered in the USA, with a global in the United Kingdom, and branch offices in several countries, including South Africa.
  • The "Thomas" presentation outlines a case study of the Maphutha Secondary School Project, conducted in collaboration with the Emerson Network Power (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., a subsidiary of USA-based Emerson Electric Company, specialists electrical power and process control systems, components and networks. The Project comprised a "Personal Profile Analysis (PPA)", a form of psychometric test of learners and educators using the DISC theory to identify personality traits in four personal characteristics of Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance (DISC).
  • 905 learners comprising a 50:50 gender balance from grades 9, 10, and 11, and 35 educators with a 44:56 female/male gender split were tested. In total 24 classes were assessed and provided with feedback. The leading DISC factor amongst learners was Compliance at 37%, followed by Influence at 29%, Steadiness at 28%, and Dominance at 5%. The key question that arises is which characteristics will be most useful for the emerging 4IR? Critical thinking and creativity are known attributes that will be demanded by the 4IR.

Day 2: 29 June 2018: Parallel Session 3
Government shielding the decent work agenda - Government tackling youth unemployment
pdficonMs. Najwah Allie-Edries, DDG Employment Facilitation:

  • The Jobs Fund: South Africa Siya Sebenza: A detailed review of the Jobs Fund, launched by the President in 2011.
  • Mandate: Create 150000 new jobs using multiple strategies; Value Proposition: R9 billion fund administered by National Treasury; Strategy: self-sustainable innovative job creation using multiple initiatives.
  • Major focus on Youth Unemployment: Jobs creation for youth; Maximum stakeholder participation and youth inclusion in all strategies.

pdficonMr Moepya, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator:

  • Scaling up entry pathways for technical occupations: A Jobs Fund supported initiative: A theoretical foundation with strong practical focus.
  • Key Problem Statement: (a) 6% of new labour market entrants find work in the first year; (b) R32 billion budget has little effect; (c) Major mismatch between supply and demand; (d) Majority of economically marginalized youth not benefiting at all.
  • QUESTION: How to prepare 63% of the nation's children living in poverty for the 4IR?

pdficonMs CJ Abrahams, EPWP, Department of Public Works:

  • The presentation provides an overview of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP launched in 2004”
  • EPWP-3 Mandate and Strategy: Employment creation; Income support; Service delivery; Assets creation; Programme design and development; Continuous innovation.
  • EPWP-3 Sector Programmes: Two "Infrastructure; Six "Social" (includes Early Childhood Development (ECD)); One "Environment & Culture"; and one "Non-state" sector programmes.

pdficonMrs S. Kabane – Director: Provincial Skills Development, Free State Province:

  • A focus on the state of youth unemployment in the Free State Province.
  • Problem Statement: (a) High youth unemployment rate; (b)Low labour absorption rate; Collapsing mining and Agricultural Sector; High number of unemployed graduates; High number of matriculants without jobs.
  • Youth Development Strategies: Bursaries; Graduate Internship Programme; Work Integrated Learning (WIL); Apprenticeship; Skills Programmes; Career Guidance.

pdficonDr Ismael-Saville, Youth Employment Service: YES Youth Employment Service:

  • #A FUTURE THAT WORKS: A 3-year business led collaboration with government and labour to create one million work opportunities for unemployed youth.
  • The Challenge: Of South Africa's 17 million youth, 36.2% are employed, 34.7% (5.9 million) are unemployed, and 29.1% are not economically active.
  • The presentation provides critical statistical data and an outline of the "YES" Youth Employment Service's strategies to overcome this major national challenge.

pdficonSummary discussion of key issues covered by the presentations:

  • South Africa's extreme socioeconomic inequalities lead to extreme poverty and unemployment, a threat to socio-political stability and economic growth.
  • High quality mass education is the best known response that is consistent with 4IR readiness.
  • Improving the national education ecosystem is a complex and lengthy task - it must begin at early childhood. Please click the icon to view Finland's experience in "ECD of the technological kind" for how this can be done.

Conclusion and Way Forward:
South Africa’s triple threats of inequality, poverty and unemployment rank amongst the highest in the world; the quality of the nation’s education system, especially in the STEM disciplines, ranks amongst the lowest in the world; and South Africa's unemployment is one of the highest in the world, with a labour force that is dominated by unskilled and/or low skilled workers. South Africa’s entry into the 4IR world will therefore be extremely difficult: A small but highly techno-literate population that understands and is able to introduce and use 4IR products and services as they emerge, residing alongside a majority of the nation’s population that is largely techno-illiterate and is therefore excluded from the benefits of the 4IR. The essential educational reforms that can counter the above effects are unlikely to produce the desired skills improvements in time – technology evolves much faster than the societal reforms required, including those related to education. South Africa faces numerous dilemmas:
  • Continue and reinforce the current employment-creation strategies and dependency on the traditional systems of education to reduce inequality, poverty and unemployment, knowing full well that the successes of these costly programmes may be reversed by the inevitable disruptive changes to education and the world of work imposed by the 4IR;
  • Succumb to the disruptive socioeconomic changes imposed by the 4IR and deal with the resulting societal disruptions as they occur;
  • Accept the inevitability of the 4IR evolutionary changes, using them to drive socioeconomic growth while at the same time creating social safety nets for the inevitable victims of the 4IR changes. These safety nets will demand a direct and intensified focus on the 55% economically marginalized population, and especially their children and youth. The safety nets will entail creative reforms of the current social grants systems, migrating this safety net towards the Universal Basic Income (UBI) model proposed globally as a direct response to 4IR automation of labour.
The above sentiments are shared by many world leaders, especially and including the BRICS community leaders, as demonstrated by the speeches delivered by the BRICS Heads of State at their summit hosted by South Africa on 25 and 27 July 2018. Given the importance of this strategic shift in development, the full speeches delivered by South Africa’s President H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa; H.E. President Xi Jinping of China; and H.E. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, are provided as references to this SAKAN discussion.
The Department of Higher Education and Training’s Career Development Stakeholders Conference provides an excellent vehicle to expand South Africa’s 4IR readiness consultative process – the DHET is the custodian of the 4IR skills development processes that are vital for a successful migration to the 4IR.