Our quality GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership [SAQA] enables businesses to harness youthful energy learners to provide a wider talent pool. They are developing a robust skills pipeline that consists of appropriately qualified employees who possess 21st century skills. However, even more importantly, these young adults have been primed to continue being GETC: AET/ABET learners. Supported by a clear advancement strategy, they are being moulded into model employees.
Notably, they also have the capacity to succeed in further training at higher NQF levels. This includes occupational and vocational skills paths that lead to an NQF 4 qualification [SAQA]. Having graduated from our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership, they already possess strong communication; problem-solving; teamwork; and adaptability skills. Equipped with these and job-specific or technical skills at a NQF 4, your team is ready to deliver the best possible work. They know the “ins-and-outs” of their jobs, and they can communicate effectively with others, including your customers. They possess the confidence and abilities to take leadership on the job and strategise innovative solutions. Moreover, they are quick to manage and adapt to unexpected changes. Uncertainty may not be new. However, its dimensions today are taking ominous forms [https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22].
Ambitious GETC: AET/ABET learners
Nevertheless, the most ambitious of our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learners have established much higher career goals for themselves.
For these individuals, our learnership provides them with a second chance to pursue an academic learning path. As adults, they are more responsible. Many of our learners only discover their real talents and the power of knowledge while completing the learnership. Yes, we are helping to supply skilled artisans and technicians that are needed to take our economy forward. However, in doing so, we’ve never lost sight of the serious shortage of engineers, scientists and analytical thinkers. These skills are key to business sustainability. When given the chance, many of our learners have demonstrated that they are up to the immense task at hand.
GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 can be the first step into leadership positions for the most enterprising individuals recruited to the training programme. Our learners continue to dispel the notion that young employees are incapable of taking on more senior roles. As young adults, they bring a wealth of knowledge and skills to any job – regardless of their age. Just ask representatives of the many companies that have permanently employed our learners after they’ve completed their learnership. These enterprising individuals are now being groomed and coached into leadership positions.
Every year, about a quarter of a million young South African adults work towards a matric certificate outside the conventional school system. To put this into perspective, this is about a third of the annual matric cohort. Among these ambitious individuals are learners who successfully completed our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership. NQF 1 is a critical first step in a lifelong learning journey, and we helped them to take it! Our clients are now helping them to climb the corporate ladder to the top.
Our GETC: AET/ABET students succeed
Receiving the best possible tuition, our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learners succeed in completing their learnership. This lays to rest common misperceptions about our youth. No, they are certainly not lazy; politically apathetic; or all involved in political unrest! Despite unfulfilled promises of our democratic era, they are still hopeful for a positive future. They just need to be given a chance. Is the right to work not enshrined in our Constitution [https://www.justice.gov.za/policy/african%20charter/afr-charter03a.html]? Gainful employment is also one of the important SDGs [Goal 8 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs (un.org)].
Certainly, our learners also dispel the notion that young employees are not dependable or hardworking. Our enterprising clients have given them a chance to show that they are very reliable and industrious. At times, they are even more so than their more seasoned colleagues. This is because they have so much to still prove and learn to be fully accepted by their teams.
Many young adults have positive dreams and aspirations for themselves. There is a desire to study further and improve their lives. A lot of young South African adults aspire to be professionals and play a meaningful role in developing our economy. Others see themselves as future police officers, social workers, firefighters, nurses and paramedics. Yes, these jobs provide stability. However, more importantly, people who pursue these occupations also want to help their communities. Yet, the high youth unemployment rate reveals the extent to which this special kind of human capital is being wasted. As the most connected generation of South Africans in history, our youth hold the key to greater productivity. They can propel our economic trajectory.
The foremost GETC: AET/ABET provider
As the foremost GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 provider, we interact regularly with unemployed youth in the townships and rural areas. We are always impressed by the extent to which they are actively trying to find ways out of their predicament. Most of them want to take courses to improve their skills and are always scouting for employment prospects.
38% of the country’s working age population lives in the townships and informal settlements. Yet, this potential lies largely dormant, with one in three young citizens not working. Effectively tapping into this human capital can also transform these areas into high business hubs.
GETC: AET/ABET unleashes potential
Our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 unleashes this potential.
It is these determined and enterprising youth to whom our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership is targeted. They know that, if given the opportunity, they will make invaluable members of your team.
Our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership provides full-time employment, transforming workplaces into learning environments. This offers an opportunity to not only learn authentic workplace skills. Importantly, young recruits also learn your ethos, mission and vision. This is in addition to what takes to be part of a high-performance professional team. They also learn to cope with the stress involved, one component of emotional IQ that our learnership develops.
Sadly, many young adults only find temporary employment, and this is often in the informal sectors. This is where 30% of the South African population works. Often short-term in nature, these jobs provide very little security. These employees make some money doing this type of work and, therefore, do not live in absolute poverty. However, they do not have access to social-protection systems that are available in the formal economy. Therefore, they are particularly vulnerable during time of personal crisis or economic shock. It is no surprise that our youth accounted for about half of employment loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, they represented just more than third of pre-pandemic employment!
GETC: AET/ABET provides work experience
GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 provides real work experience. Once they have completed their learnership, new recruits can hit the ground running. This is opposed to weeks or several months that it can take new employees to become comfortable in their roles. Our learners have already gone through the learning curve as they familiarised themselves with job responsibilities, processes and systems. Moreover, they have had a year to adapt to your unique company culture.
So many young adults looking for jobs have been told that they have insufficient work experience. Even other learnerships have fallen short in addressing high youth unemployment. They may pay a small stipend but provide very little in way of adequate job training and development opportunities. It is no wonder that these training programmes seldom lead to full-time employment. The main reason that these programmes are failing is because they are just undertaken to ensure compliance. Little thought goes into their planning to address real skills gaps. Rather, enterprising young adults should be recruited with the intention of growing and developing their proficiencies. Equipped with the correct skills, they can help to take your company forward. This while also enabling them to continue growing in their careers and individuals.
Many young adults have also diligently attended short courses that have failed to teach skills that industry needs. And these requirements are changing all the time. To be workplace literate now implies so much more than the ability to simply read, write and do maths. It has moved towards critical thinking skills. Literate employees can apply their knowledge in new and differing concepts.
GETC: AET/ABET teaches meaningful skills
Our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership teaches meaningful skills. In this way, it sets out to achieve the original intent of a learnership. A uniquely South African concept, a learnership is supposed to focus on developing careers. This is before the emphasis on moving youth through learnership programmes that do not provide sustainable career paths. It has been a useless “numbers game”. About 9-million young adults cannot find jobs, even though they want to work and learn skills. Worryingly, there is huge disparity between the number of learners who enter learnership and those who complete the training. In some instances, the percentage is as low as 5%.
Rather, our learnership is based on years of experience working with industry as its preferred AET provider. This is both for the provision of workplace skills upliftment programmes for traditional blue-collar employees and community development. In doing so, we have engaged with many leading participants in the mining, construction, agriculture, transport-logistics and manufacturing sectors. This is in addition to the numerous services-based industries that employ unskilled and semi-skilled employees. A case in point is the facilities-management and hospitality industries, both of which are large employers of cleaning staff. They all agree that “soft skills” are now just as important as job-specific proficiencies. In some industries they are even more important. Bear in mind the rate at which general and entry-level work is being replaced by machines. They are excellent at handling data and streamlining tasks. However, they cannot understand context. They also lack the ability to communicate for seamless collaboration.
GETC: AET/ABET learners bring skills
Our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learners are first in line to bring these skills to the table!
With our clients’ insights and guidance, we have developed a learnership that directly addresses this need. It has been designed by South African industry for industry, with a specific focus on addressing our unique socio-economic challenges.
Our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership takes our very successful ABET programmes much further. This is by also providing core and elective learning areas. These complement and enhance the numeracy and literacy skills taught. Exposed to life orientation and the various sciences, we develop well-rounded employees. They gain an understanding of the importance of a strong work ethic and equipped with time-management and financial-literacy skills. This is in addition to an appreciation of diversity and the importance of health and safety.
In this digital age, employees need to be able to collaborate and communicate effectively with colleagues; higher-ups; and your customers. At the same time, they must also be able to use their own initiative; think-out-the-box; and take calculated risks. In addition, our learners have been presented with ample opportunity to develop, hone and refine their social skills. Importantly, they exit our learnership also technologically and media literate.
GETC: AET/ABET learnership success
Many businesses attest to the fact that our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 learnership is a resounding success.
It is successfully addressing 21st century skills shortages [The 21st-century skills gap – New Vision for Education (weforum.org)]. This has enabled these visionary companies to meet the demands of customers and adapt to changing market conditions. However, by offering this learnership, our clients have not only developed their own talent pipelines. They have also contributed to the growth and development of South Africa’s workforce, critical to economic sustainability.
They understand that “corporate South Africa” is a stakeholder in youth unemployment. However, it will not be able to solve this challenge with old methods. The sheer enormity of the problem requires innovative interventions. These include programmes specifically designed to help our youth access training and professional development. Our GETC: AET/ABET NQF 1 is exactly that!
Learn more about Triple E Training and how you too can tap into the vast potential of our youth. www.eee.co.za
