Graduate employment is one of the important outcomes of public TVET colleges. It is surprising, therefore, that little is known about the pathways of TVET students through college and into employment.
Are students finding employment or not?
New research focuses on the N3 Engineering and N6 Business and Engineering programme graduates of public TVET colleges. The results show that just over half of the total 2013 graduates (52.3%) were employed at the time of the survey, thirty months after graduation.
Of those employed, 34.4% were in internships or apprenticeships, 50.2% were in permanent employment or long-term contracts, and 15.4% were in short-term contracts. A telephone survey of 4050 TVET graduates who completed their qualifications in 2013 across the 50 public TVET colleges nationally was conducted.
Of the sample surveyed1, 42.5% of the respondents were female and 57.5% were male. The majority of students were Black African (96.2%), with smaller proportions being Coloured (2.1%), White (1.5%), and Asian (0.3%) graduates. 52.3% of the total 2013 cohort of graduates were employed at the time of the survey (see table 1). While White and Coloured graduates constituted very small proportions (1.5% and 2.1% respectively) of the study cohort, their employment rates were significantly higher. N6 graduates had higher employment rates (60%) than N3 graduates (51%).
Not all graduates who are not in employment can be considered ‘unemployed’ (see Table 2). At the time of the survey 47.7% of the respondents indicated that they were unemployed. However, out of the 47.7%, 10% said that they were studying. The main reason provided for studying further was in order to achieve a higher qualification or to further careers. Almost all of these (93%) indicated that they were looking for a job and a very small proportion (7%) said that they were not looking for a job. 75% have been unemployed for 12 months or longer of the 30 months since completion. In total about 33% could be considered ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEET).
One of the main purposes of the post-school system is to prepare workers for the labour market.
All individuals should have the skills to enable them to enter formal employment, but also to earn sustainable livelihoods through self-employment.
The low numbers of self-employed graduates could suggest that self-employment is not treated as a serious option for TVET college learners while they are still in college where preparation for such an option could be provided.
This could be investigated further. Further research is needed to better understand the interrelationship between TVET Colleges and formal and informal economies.
This research contributes to the small body of knowledge (Cosser, 2003 and Gewer, 2009) on the absorption of TVET graduates in general, but NATED graduates specifically, into employment. Anecdotal reports are conflicting about the value of the NATED qualification within industry: while some hold that employers value the N-qualifications above the NCV, others contend that the NCV is finding purchase with employers as the qualification becomes more generally understood and is bedded down within college provision. The aim of the research is to provide more data on graduate pathways and destinations, so that more is known about how students move from education either to employment, entrepreneurship or further study and so forth.
Findings from the report, Survey Analysis of the Pathways of Public TVET College Learners
Through NATED Programmes by Prof Joy Papier (IPSS, UWC), Dr Lesley Powell (CIPSET, NMMU), Timothy McBride (IPSS, UWC) and Seamus Needham (IPSS, UWC).
The full report will be available soon on the LMIP Repository at http://www.lmip.org.za
Table 1: Employed graduates from the 2013 cohort
Table 2: Graduates from the 2013 cohort not in employment
Source TVET College Times
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