Skilling for employment and employability: the success of learnerships and apprenticeships under the National Skills Development Strategy II

Learnerships and apprenticeships as skills development mechanisms thus provide a useful case study to investigate the complexity and conditionality of the relationship between educational qualifications and the labour market in South Africa. This chapter draws on a large-scale longitudinal study tracking the characteristics of individuals participating in learnership and apprenticeship systems. We analysed the sequence of successes and failures of specific groups distinguished along age, race, gender, class and geographic lines in the processes of accessing training opportunities, completing skills programmes and entering the workplace. Such empirical analysis can contribute to informing national skills strategies. The New Growth Path, for instance, has called for a review of the skills development system to address shortfalls in artisanal and technical skills.