The post-school education and training landscape in South Africa consists of a diverse range of sectors and institutions. These include: Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) centres; Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges; workplace training programmes (learnerships and apprenticeships); as well as traditional, comprehensive and universities of technology. All of these components of the postschooling system are of vital importance to the supply of skills to the labour market and the broader South African economy, and understanding the issues of access, pathways and transitions will provide valuable information for skills planning. The objective is to obtain a better understanding of the pathways and transitions undertaken by young people through the education and training system into the workplace. The key question underpinning this work is: What are the dynamics of access, progression, graduation and labour market destinations along various education, training and labour market trajectories, and how can this knowledge inform skills planning in South Africa?
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.