Abstract
South Africa, having inaugurated its first national Adult Learners Week in 1996 under the theme “Learning to Live, Work and Learn Together”, was among the pioneer countries to develop this mobilization campaign for adult literacy, further education and training. Further Education and Training as well as career development has now become an important component in any individual’s life. In this study, the focus was on South African Domestic Workers, who have embarked on further education and training. The aim of the enquiry was to study their perceptions on further education and training and personal career development.
The study was a qualitative biased study done with an interpretative technique. Semi-structured interviews were held with a sample of five domestics who enrolled for further education and training with Domestic Bliss Learnership Institution. The interviews were conducted on a one-on-one basis. Field notes were kept to capture observations made throughout the five interview sessions. Each interview session was tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The raw data was sorted and categorized. Two main themes emerged from the analysis. The first theme was labeled “no knowledge” and the second theme labeled, “acquired knowledge”. The findings were derived from the different categories for the two themes and dealt with a lack of knowledge, lack of self-image and self-confidence, self-awareness, career awareness and FET experience.
It was recommended that all training institutions should provide entrance and exit career counselling to all adult learners. It was also recommended that more information be made available by government agencies to sensitise domestics about learnership programmes. Training institutions should also have a more strategic approach to their programmes and consider an advanced level of training to create a career pathway for domestics.
Dr. A.W. Beekman