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Institute of People Development

The basis for informed decision-making for ETD Professionals

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:58

By Mark Orpen

Each year, market demands for improved service delivery and the pace at which we need to perform are rapidly increasing.

The knowledge economy is growing exponentially whilst emerging leadership across business, labour, communities and public services in South Africa hungers for a sound philosophical basis for their own beliefs, values and strategies to deliver, without really knowing it.

Generational gaps, theological disposition, cultural persuade and mental modes all influence the way we see the world and how we either react to it or pursue it.

Core to our continued passions, spiritual liveliness, protracted direction and moral stability lays a carefully woven eclectic philosophy that appears unique to our own view of the world we live in.

But to succeed, we need to be well informed of the range of philosophies that underpin the particular field within which we reside and excel.

It is in this place that higher education institutions focus their efforts to develop the `hidden curriculum' within.

And it is also in this place that The Institute of People Development (IPD) developed its branded curriculum for vocational educators and workplace trainers, through extensive analysis of national market needs and planning for skills development in South Africa.

Over the past 10 years, I have seen hundreds of Education, Training & Development (ETD) Practitioners successfully passing through qualification certification ceremonies hosted by IPD.

But I have also seen scores of consultants & ETD Practitioners come and go, learners jumping through compliance hoops, candidates chasing credits to meet someone else's targets.

Each time I observe the motive, I either smile or weep inside as I calculate the effect that each person has on the pool of ETD Practitioner expertise currently servicing our national skills development strategy.

Analyses of collective survey results suggest that between 120,000 and 150,000 practicing vocational educators and/or workplace trainers/assessors exist in one context or another in South Africa.

As environments within which ETD Practitioners subsist substantially differ, appropriate curriculum strategies for various target learner markets need to be conceptualized.

For example, mining and manufacturing environments suggest a technical inclination in the career path for ETD Practitioners, whilst professional and personal services environments suggest a people oriented inclination.

The fascinating phenomenon is that occupationally directed ETD practices are not quite an exact science. Learning is context specific and practitioners will evolve varied best practices. But what will need to be formulated is the philosophical basis upon which we draw our analyses of best practice in work-based learning.

For example human capital philosophies emerged from behaviorist dispositions, social constructivist philosophies from constructivist dispositions and liberal humanist philosophies from radical dispositions. The disposition we subscribe to will shape our view and perspective of best practice in a specific context.

As the world changes there is an increasing need for employees to display critical skills needed to engage in that world, ETD Practitioners will need to rapidly gain a deeper knowledge of the range of philosophies, theories and practices that inform their workplace context.

The quest remains for South Africa to develop a well described practical `blue print' upon which ETD Practitioners in particular environments can draw solutions to problem solving and implementing ETD in their vocations / workplace environments.

Such a `blue print' should provide a representative picture of ETD practices across the spectrums of work based on a blend of philosophies and theories but proven in practice and inclusive of the shifts and trends between these philosophies and theories.

By: Mark Orpen from Institute of People Development
Analysing Needs & Planning Learning (CPD for ETD Practitioners): 2008

Full details about Institute of People Development available here