Abstract
M.Ed.
South Africa has in the last 16 years experienced rapid changes in various spheres including the
political, social and economic spheres. Changes in education and training provisions were
considered to be fundamental to the process of socio-economic transformation. As a result, in
1994 the newly elected democratic government was mandated to develop a comprehensive
education and training system that is responsive to the needs of the country and its citizens. The
National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) was then introduced as a vital strategy for
addressing the endemic poverty, dire national skills shortage, chronic unemployment rate, and
shockingly poor education levels. Learnerships were conceptualized as the flagship of skills
development initiatives and an important vehicle for addressing the above stated social ills.
The literature review revealed the learnership as a uniquely South African corporate training
programme grounded on internationally acclaimed principles of work-based learning.
Learnerships were hyped as specialized skills development programmes aimed at assisting new
entrants into employment, providing access to new forms of income generation, thus improving
the quality of life of the poor. The aim of this study was to investigate learners’ views regarding
the role and success of learnerships organized by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. It
also seeks to determine whether the learners’ views and expectations are compatible with the
concept of learnerships. An inductive-qualitative approach was followed. Purposive sampling
method was used in order to select twelve learners whose information was rich in content. Data
was collected using one-on-one semi-structured interviews with learners enrolled for different
learnership programmes.Categorical analysis was employed; by organizing data into workable units, while looking for
codes, categories and themes. The study revealed that learners were generally satisfied with the
learnership programme, as they indicated that the training met and even exceeded their
expectations. However, judging from the literature review and data analysis it was clear that
during the conceptualization of learnerships, learners’ views were never sought. Learners seem to have accepted the pre-packed competency based training as a norm. They uncritically expect
the employer-determined curriculum to somehow cater for their personal needs and aspirations