Pathways through the education and training system: do we need a new model?

Analyses conducted by the Education, Science and Skills Development (ESSD) research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) reveal major areas of misalignment in the South African education pathway system. The majority of learners entering Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, nursing training institutions and learnerships have already achieved National Senior Certificates prior to enrolment. Higher Education is seen as the only viable option for further learning, contributing to the inverted triangle phenomenon in which a small FET college system is secondary to a much larger Higher Education system which struggles to retain inadequately prepared students. Against this background, this paper proposes a new model for student progression that broadens learning opportunities at the intermediate level.