Learnerships can be applied for anywhere in South Africa because they are a nationally-recognised qualification. The beauty of learnerships is that they are relevant to real life and what people want to do, and as a result have proven to be a popular choice when it comes to education.
Traditional learning in South Africa tended to concentrate on giving individuals knowledge about things that may have had no real impact on their daily lives, and certainly little to benefit them because it focused on theoretical approaches rather than the practical. This meant that once their education was completed they still had little real knowledge or understanding of the workplace.
Some companies tried to address this imbalance by providing training programmes for their employees but these still fell short of being ideal because they tended to focus on how something should be done and ignored the reasons why it should be done resulting in a very narrow workforce, unable to make any progression.
A learnership differs from both of these approaches because it focuses on outcomes; this means that success is very much dependent upon whether a learner can apply the knowledge and skills that they have gained to a satisfactory conclusion. This is achieved through teaching a combination of practical skills and theory, rather than just one or the other.
To ensure that learners are achieving, there are continual assessments, which is an improvement on the old apprentice systems where assessment was only done at the end of the programme.
Another bonus for learnerships as opposed to apprenticeships is that the only limit on age to participate in the scheme is that you must be between the ages of 16 and 60; this means that is possible for older people to learn new skills and take advantage of a new career. They are also available for all levels of the NQF, again making them more accessible to everyone.
Traditional learning in South Africa tended to concentrate on giving individuals knowledge about things that may have had no real impact on their daily lives, and certainly little to benefit them because it focused on theoretical approaches rather than the practical. This meant that once their education was completed they still had little real knowledge or understanding of the workplace.
Some companies tried to address this imbalance by providing training programmes for their employees but these still fell short of being ideal because they tended to focus on how something should be done and ignored the reasons why it should be done resulting in a very narrow workforce, unable to make any progression.
A learnership differs from both of these approaches because it focuses on outcomes; this means that success is very much dependent upon whether a learner can apply the knowledge and skills that they have gained to a satisfactory conclusion. This is achieved through teaching a combination of practical skills and theory, rather than just one or the other.
To ensure that learners are achieving, there are continual assessments, which is an improvement on the old apprentice systems where assessment was only done at the end of the programme.
Another bonus for learnerships as opposed to apprenticeships is that the only limit on age to participate in the scheme is that you must be between the ages of 16 and 60; this means that is possible for older people to learn new skills and take advantage of a new career. They are also available for all levels of the NQF, again making them more accessible to everyone.
