2. Material and research methods

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 presents the contribution of STEM education in upskilling and reskilling of people 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 questions:

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

RQ2: What are relevant workshop materials and equipment for teaching and learning vocational subjects?

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

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

The results of this study helped to understand (1) the present vocational and didactic practices at TVET colleges, (2) the degree of TVET college readiness for the fourth industrial revolution and (3) the state of financial support for the reskilling and skilling of youth and adults for the fourth industrial revolution.
