Private further education and training

Abstract

This chapter reports on the nature of private post-school technical and vocational education and training (TVET) within the further education and training (FET) band in the South African education system. It provides, for the first time, hard information regarding the participants, location, ownership, programmes offered, and the delivery of private TVET provision. Results show that the sector serves a significant learner enrolment, with the majority of learners being black, a large proportion older than 25 and many in employment. The private FET sector has a largely "for-profit" character and demonstrates significant convergence across general, further and higher education. There is a significant programme spread, but institutions do not specialise at particular National Qualifications Framework levels. Programmes tend to be offered in areas that do not require excessive capital investment and infrastructure. While the sector is arguably responding to employer and user demand, the quality of these short modular courses delivered by part-time personnel has not yet been determined.