3. Literature review

1. Introduction

questions:

workshops?

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learning vocational subjects?

vocational subjects?

It is no secret that South African youth are facing massive challenges in terms of their education, employment and career growth. At the third quarter of 2019, South African unemployment rate has increased to 29% as compared with 26.5% in the first quarter of 2017. Youth unemployment has been inordinately high for many years in South Africa and is one of the country's major socioeconomic challenges [1]. Cross-country comparisons regularly affirm that South Africa's unemployment rates are among the highest in the world. In 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 63% of the youth labour force (3.2 million individuals). By international comparison, the ratio of youth to adult unemployment is fairly similar for other countries that are economically comparable to South Africa. However, the overall unemployment rate is far higher than in other emerging markets [2]. Of the 10.2 million individuals aged between 15 and 24 years, one-third are not in employment, educa-

This study is underpinned by the global and national literature in current trends on the forces that determine new jobs and skills for the fourth industrial revolution.

This chapter also presents the empirical findings from three TVET colleges in one province in South Africa. The empirical part focused on vocational pedagogic and didactic practices, workshop material and equipment for practical training, work-integrated learning (WIL) and integration of theory and practice in vocational subjects. The empirical part of this chapter presents findings from a case study to gauge the extent of readiness in some TVET colleges for the fourth industrial revolution. The methodology of collecting data was questionnaires, interviews and observations. The participants of this study were students and lecturers, who were selected purposefully. The total number of students who completed the questionnaire was 119. These students were studying National Technical Education (NATED) and National Curriculum Vocational (NCV). This implies that there were 39 students for NATED N5 Industrial Electronics from College A, 31 students studying National Curriculum Vocational 1 Information Processing from College B and 49 students studying N5 Electrotechnics (NATED) from College C. NCV and NATED (N1–N6) courses are part of two main national curricula for TVET Colleges in South Africa. Each of these national curricula consists of several vocational subjects for various occupations. Interviews were done with the college lecturers who were observed in the classroom, and students completed the questionnaires. Observation of lessons of the subjects mentioned was done at each of the three colleges. The questionnaire surveys were underpinned by the following sub-research

RQ1: What are the vocational and didactic methods used in classrooms and

RQ2: What are relevant workshop materials and equipment for teaching and

RQ3: How are the theory and practices integrated in the teaching and learning of

RQ4: What partnership exists between TVET colleges and industries for WIL?

This chapter presents the contribution of STEM education in upskilling and

tion, or training (and are often referred to as "NEETs") ibid.

reskilling of people for the fourth industrial revolution.

2. Material and research methods

Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century
