SAKAN links with South Africa's Education Systems
This page remains a work in progress, and will develop further as SAKAN seeks the assistance of the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), and through this national custodian of all national skills development, SAKAN will seek the assistance and collaboration of ALL South Africa's educational institutions and related organizations engaged in skills development. The National Department of Basic Education will be a vital partner for the development of e-skills for Early Childhood Development (ECD), with appropriate educational on-line gaming content in readiness for full participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). SAKAN will also seek the support of the DHET for the development of relationships with similar global institutions - the immediate challenge may be South Africa, but the issues addressed are global, and demand strong global collaboration.
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Launching the SAKAN conversation with the South African Education Ecosystem
South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) convened the 2nd Annual Career Development Stakeholders Conference on 28th and 29th June 2018. The theme of the conference was: CAREERS IN A CHANGING WORLD, supported by the following sub-themes:- Information for a changing world;
- Change agents for education, training and employment;
- Government shielding the decent work agenda.
The purpose of the conference was to bring together stakeholders to share information/knowledge and discuss careers in the changing world and implications for career development services in South Africa. A major focus of the conference was the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on South Africa’s skills development agenda, and the complexity of career development for this rapid and uncertain “revolution” in the world of work and use of labour.
A SAKAN representative was invited to share their information and knowledge about these challenges under the sub-theme “Social inclusion in a changing world”. The SAKAN presentation provided the basis for discussion and further engagement with the DHET. Please click the image to view this presentation. This SAKAN page is merely the beginning of a national conversation that must shape South Africa's readiness for the 4IR, the skills development needed for South Africa to leverage all the socioeconomic opportunities of the 4IR while at the same time minimizing the threats and risks associated with the socio-cultural-political-economic changes that must arise. The DHET is the custodian of all South Africa's skills development, and must therefore be central to South Africa's transition towards the positive elements of the 4IR.
THE SAKAN SOLUTION: A summary of possible applications and related partnerships.
The following short list of possibilities for both applications of SA-LANS, and partnerships that can be forged to maximize the outcomes of these applications, provide a brief insight of the SAKAN research that will be conducted:
Communications:
Communications:
- Emulating the historical public access to telephony that catapulted virtually all nations into the global information society during the early phases of national ICT network development (the public telephone kiosks of yesteryear).
- Massively shared affordable broadband access for poor communities, children and individual adults, and user terminals where these are required.
- Access to affordable broadband on own terminals – laptops, smart phones, tablets – via SA-LAN Wi-Fi hot-spots or direct connections to laptops via Ethernet cables.
- Access to user skills provided by SA-LAN owner/operator, by peer group leaders in a “hangout” knowledge-sharing mode, or by educators from schools with limited e-learning facilities.
- Access to soft copies of communications and other documents, printed for hard copies should these be required, in the SA-LAN where printing facilities exist, or in other printing facilities via flash drives loaded in SA-LANS.
- In the South African case, this phenomenal growth in gaming and its value is confined to the upper-middle and high-income populations.
- Can this immense income generating and digital skills acquisition phenomenon be extend to South Africa's 30+ million low income citizens using the SA-LAN SAKAN concept?
- Can this same gaming phenomenon be extended to South Africa’s 63% child population living in poverty, as an Early Childhood Development (ECD) tool with appropriate learning games, accessed via SA-LANS? There is a growing global awareness that preparations for the uncertain future of a 4IR automated world must begin even before the pre-school learning process. The children of wealthy families generally have computer and related toys, or access to appropriate technologies. The children of poor families do not in general have such facilities, and are thus deprived of the creative and critical thinking development required in this technologically-driven information age.
- Can this possibility be integrated into the formal school system, directly as an extension to selected schools, or as part of the school curriculum in poor communities, with class groups using SA-LAN facilities on an occasional basis?. This will provide potent learning opportunities for children living in economically marginalized communities, and additional incomes for the SMME SA-LAN owners and operators.
- The above possibilities received excellent coverage at the 2018 World Economic Forum through videos such as "The State of Start Ups" which outlined successful efforts to teach very young children in deprived USA neighbourhoods critical programming skills for future e-readiness.
Case studies in Education for the 4IR: There are numerous case studies available of how South Africa's peer developed and developing nations deal with the massive education systems revisions needed for the 4IR, potentially a world without work as we know it, but equipped with survivalist skills that leverage 4IR and future technologies to improve human development in all its complex multi-dimensional aspects. How can nations remodel their national educational systems to meet these seemingly contradictory and conflicting demands? The Japanese Opinion Piece provided in the 4IR section of this site is a good starting point, as is the e-Skills for Jobs (Europe) Campaign that intensified in 2007.
What can South Africa learn from these technologically empowered regions of the world? More importantly perhaps is how South Africa can learn from its partners and peers in the developing world:
CHINA: This modern economic and technological giant and BRICS partner introduced major changes to the country's national education system as far back as 2014, before the acronym 4IR was popularized: a policy decision to change initially 600 academic universities into vocational colleges, rising to more than 80% of the nations universities before 2020. This in recognition that traditional universities are not equipped for the rapid industry and skills changes associated with the evolving 4IR, and must therefore be reinforced by a strong industry focus, where most of the 4IR technological innovations are created. Keeping up with these innovations, and "disrupting" them further to create future 4IR evolutions, demands continuous learning far beyond the present capabilities of traditional educational systems.
With South Africa hosting the sixth BRICS Education Ministers Meeting in mid-June 2018, what lessons can South Africa derive from this BRICS Partner as the nation grapples with the complex changes in its TVET strategies? The key is to recognize the rapidly changing knowledge needs of the 4IR, and the need for continuous off-campus on-the-job learning. This process, which depends on critical and creative thinking capability, is best started at preschool levels - early childhood development (ECD) of the technological kind. SAKAN can be one of the consultation tools for the intensive consultation process that leads to this eventuality.
What can South Africa learn from these technologically empowered regions of the world? More importantly perhaps is how South Africa can learn from its partners and peers in the developing world:
CHINA: This modern economic and technological giant and BRICS partner introduced major changes to the country's national education system as far back as 2014, before the acronym 4IR was popularized: a policy decision to change initially 600 academic universities into vocational colleges, rising to more than 80% of the nations universities before 2020. This in recognition that traditional universities are not equipped for the rapid industry and skills changes associated with the evolving 4IR, and must therefore be reinforced by a strong industry focus, where most of the 4IR technological innovations are created. Keeping up with these innovations, and "disrupting" them further to create future 4IR evolutions, demands continuous learning far beyond the present capabilities of traditional educational systems.
With South Africa hosting the sixth BRICS Education Ministers Meeting in mid-June 2018, what lessons can South Africa derive from this BRICS Partner as the nation grapples with the complex changes in its TVET strategies? The key is to recognize the rapidly changing knowledge needs of the 4IR, and the need for continuous off-campus on-the-job learning. This process, which depends on critical and creative thinking capability, is best started at preschool levels - early childhood development (ECD) of the technological kind. SAKAN can be one of the consultation tools for the intensive consultation process that leads to this eventuality.
The possibilities are endless, depending only on a “just do it” development philosophy, a key ingredient for the success of the SAKAN concept. The slider below is yet another reminder of what SAKAN and partners can do to impart the critical thinking a creative skills needed to survive the 4IR transition.
