Inspecting the Foundations - Umalusi

describe Public Adult Learning Centres (PALCs) as ‘predominantly dysfunctional institutions with fewor no administrative and management systems’, and go on to argue that ‘the instability of theseinstitutions is compounded by high attrition rates, deterrents to participation, and a high turnoverin educators’. Walters (2006) argues that there has been limited progress in terms of increase ofdelivery, aggravated by a loss of capacity within community-based organizations. Other providersof alternative forms of adult education include the Departments of Labour, Correctional Services,Health, and Water Affairs, and Walters (2006) argues that a range of adult learning activities indifferent areas of life refl ects a wide range of vibrant activities. Walters concedes that this broadnotion of learning is diffi cult to evaluate, as the programmes and activities are diverse and hard todelineate.Much adult education in South Africa prior to the democratic elections in 1994 was informedby the radical idea that adult education was critical to social change: it aimed to address andchange ‘the socio-economic and political system that produces and perpetuates conditions ofinequality’ (Baatjes and Mathe 2004, p. 393). Adult education in this tradition is ‘not just a processof imparting and acquiring knowledge … but is a political process of raising critical awareness ofinjustice’ (Ibid.). This approach, they argue, was prominent in non-governmental organizationsand among activists in higher education. This type of provision was non-formal, ‘revolutionary,and inclusive’ (Ibid.) and they argue that a tension exists between this type of adult educationand what they identify as ‘instrumentalist’ adult education (Baatjes and Mathe 2004, p. 394). Theinstrumentalist approach emphasizes the role of adult education in improving productivity andleading to employment opportunities for adults. This approach started to become prevalent withinbusiness and labour groupings involved in the reform of training policy in the early 1990s (in forumssuch as National Economic Development and Labour Council) around the time of the transition todemocracy. Baatjes and Mathe argue that instrumentalism continues to permeate governmenteducational policy, programmes, plans, and strategies today.With the advent of democracy in South Africa, the introduction of outcomes-based education,and the development of the NQF, the possibility emerged for adults to receive credit for learningalready achieved, and to access continued, quality-assured lifelong learning. It was generallythought that the unit standards and outcomes associated with this system would enable theprogressive education that the adult education community needed – through enabling fl exibility,but at the same time ensuring formal recognition of learning. Recognition of prior learning andthe accumulation and transfer of credits have not, however, made great inroads into improvingaccess. The new Quality Councils should ensure that this matter receives renewed attention.The Department of Education (DoE) attempted to create policies which would enable delivery ofadult basic education and training which is ‘fl exible, developmental and targeted at the specifi cneeds of particular audiences and (which) ideally, provides access to nationally recognizedcertifi cates’ (Department of Education (DoE) 1997).Between 1998 and 1999, qualifi cations and unit standards in eight sub-fi elds of the NQF weredeveloped and registered (Baatjes and Mathe 2004). In 2001, the fi rst certifi cation of adult learnerstook place, by the South African Certifi cation Council, the predecessor of Umalusi.In 2001, the Department of Labour launched the National Skills Development Strategy, which wasalso aimed at raising the basic educational levels of all workers, with a specifi c target that 70% ofworkers would have a GETC by the end of 2005 (Baatjes and Mathe 2004). As Baatjes and Mathepoint out, this target was easily achievable without altering literacy rates, as employers simplychose to employ those already with a Senior Certifi cate.Baatjes and Mathe (2004), in line with Muller’s (2004) arguments about the school system and theNQF, discuss some challenges for the ‘centralization’ of adult education through the NQF. Theycite, amongst other factors, the institutionalization of adult education through the PALCs, theemployment of school teachers on a part-time basis as adult educators, the development of aunit standards-based qualifi cation, the delivery of a national learning programme which consists9