Abstract
M.Ed. (Education)
Ever since its inception, the technical college has had the task of providing vocational education. In fact, it would not be incorrect to say that the provision of vocational education to the broad mass of the South African population has always been the
raison d'etre of the technical college. The call for our education system to become more relevant and more oriented towards the world of work is becoming increasingly
persistent. Consequently the contribution of the technical college towards relevant vocational education has recently been intensively researched in an attempt to establish the following: * its role in the provision of vocational education, and
* whether it is in fact equipped to perform this very challenging function, taking into account the economic realities and manpower requirements of South Africa.
It has been established beyond any doubt that an educational system which places the emphasis on teaching technical and vocational skills, from the primary to the secondary and tertiary levels, that would lead to meaningful employment, needs to be
devised. Various investigations have been carried out, as overseas and different vocational education Urgent attention is being given to vocational. Towards this end
locally as well systems studied. Education within the wide education family and all the vocational education experts of the various departments, in conjunction with commerce and industry and other interested parties, are at present fully involved in the joint planning and/or renewal of vocational education in the RSA. The concept of partnership, which has obtained a new meaning in education, has been a logical outcome of all these investigations, simposia, conferences and talks. Apart from the natural partnership of education, which include the organised teaching profession and the parent community, a new and powerful partnership is developing which includes the private as well as the public sector. A study· into the role and function of all the parties in this partnership has established that each partner has a particular place, role and function to fulfil in order to achieve a common goal, namely the provision of a relevantly trained manpower for South Africa. This study has made it abundantly clear that the contribution of each partner towards education and training is of vital importance and that not one of them can afford it any longer to remain uninvolved in vocational education which has become a national priority. The study has furthermore identified the technical college as a very significant partner in this partnership, along with the schools, the technikon, the university and the various training boards.