5.1 Vocational pedagogy and didactics and integration of theory and practice in the classroom/workshops

The lecturer teaching electrical engineering responded that there was no integration of theory and practice.

The researcher asked: "Is there any practical you do on your subject?" Lecturer: "No, it's just theory".

The teacher says that there are no workshops for practical. The teaching is mostly based on textbook.

Lecturer: "I teach them theory most of the time, and the practical they must do on their own".

The type of practical the teacher was referring to was calculations of electrical quantities using calculators.

I asked the teacher the question: "Do you have practical?"

The lecturer/teacher responded: "No, I mean calculations".

The teacher who was teaching Computer Practice N5 in the same college states that students spend much time in the practical of the computer, because theory was too short.

Lecturer: "Our theory is very short so most of the time we concentrate on practical".

However, the teacher complained that the content of the subject she was teaching was outdated because it was never revised since 1999. It is not surprising why employers cannot employ most students from colleges because of this mismatch of knowledge and skills [1] [16]. This mismatch was also confirmed by the teacher as follows:

Lecturer: I am only concentrating on the textbook, for example financial management students they are doing computer practice they are doing calculations yet when they go to the corporate they come back saying what we teach them it's not relevant to their work place due to the system each company may use as individual. The teacher states that she requires continuous professional development because he/she is not a professional teacher.

For instance, the teacher said: "More training for me because I am not a professional teacher so I don't know how to deal with the behaviour of students".

At the third college, the lecturer who was teaching Electrotechnics emphasised that he was always bringing practical components when teaching, as a way of integrating theory and practice.

Lecturer: "Sometimes you see now in the class I do have machines. Even there you can check I do have machines. My subject is based too much on machines and other components of electrical. I do bring some, like conductors that I do have, whatever subject it requires based on the chapter which I'll be teaching".

The lecturer in this subject (Electrotechnics) also stressed the fact that the content is outdated, and it is going to be reviewed. The NATED curriculum taught at TVET colleges was introduced by the apartheid regime and has not being reviewed. [21] argues that too much bureaucratic red tape and unnecessary detail

#### STEM for Sustainable Skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Snapshot at Some TVET… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89294

will retard technological changes in the country. There is great need to fast track TVET transformation in order to meet the needs of workplaces in skill provision. The existing TVET colleges are failing to produce skilled youth because of the bureaucratic red tape in terms of funding.
