From theory to practice: TVET college students' challenges in search of experiential training
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38140/ijsie.v2i2.1881Keywords:
Experiential training, In-service training, Placement, Training, TVET CollegeAbstract
The placement of Technical Vocational Education and Training college students on experiential training is a site of intense conversation. These debates have exposed serious challenges related to student experiential training. Issues such as the availability of placements, workplace-based exposure, and experiential training are recurrent themes embodied in these debates. Experiential training has not been insulated from the impact of uncertainties such as pandemics, economic depressions, civil unrest, etc., leading to the associated challenges; hence, it is a topical issue. The challenges confronting the N6 National Accredited Technical Education Diploma graduates searching for places to undergo the 18 months’ experiential training are particularly interesting. According to the study this paper draws, many N6 graduates struggled to get experiential training places. Guided by the Experiential Learning Theory, applying a qualitative research design and using interviews to gather data from the purposively sampled students and staff, the study, whose objective was to identify the challenges encountered by TVET college learners in South Africa, identified a) the training institutions, b) funding of the experiential training, C) limited places for experiential training and d) a reluctance by the employers to host the learners as the major challenges. These findings underline the importance of shifting from the current approaches to student experiential training and pursuing perspectives that present student experiential training as a critical component of the education and training processes in South Africa.
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