Learnerships

ABET learnerships set qualifying standards for continuing education and training. Learnerships specify essential skills and knowledge “required to access qualifications for further education and training.” In other words, if a learner cannot add, subtract, multiply and divide, he is not prepared for fractions, decimals, and percentages. If a learner cannot carry on a basic workplace conversation, he is not prepared for logic and inference. When a student completes a learnership, however, he receives a certificate of qualification that is recognized throughout South Africa. Derived from the tradition of apprenticeship, but enriched and sophisticated for the demands of the twenty-first century workplace, Learnerships immerse relatively unskilled workers in an occupation, where they can learn and grow under the guidance and supervision of an extremely well-qualified veteran of the trade. Learnerships promote adult learners’ proficiency with skills that have both economic and social value.