Integrated Non-Formal Education and Training Programs and Centre Linkages for Adult Employment in South Africa

Oct 15, 2026

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Qualitative study examining how adult non-formal education and training (NFET) centre linkages with external role-players support post-training employment for graduates in South Africa. The article addresses persistent long-term unemployment after NFET completion and investigates what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment. Findings show managers failed to build adequate linkages enabling access to post-training support, community resources, and public services. Concludes that without external stakeholder linkage, graduates face continued barriers to employment and small-business start-up, perpetuating unemployment and chronic poverty.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Theoretical framework for enabling environments of adult NFET centres

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 57, Number 1, April 2017 Integrated non-formal education and training programs and centre linkages for adult employment in South Africa Celestin Mayombe University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa This article outlines the results of a qualitative study, which investigated the adult non-formal education and training (NFET) centre linkages with external role-players in providing post-training support for the employment of graduates. The concern that informed this article is that adults who face long-term unemployment remain unemployed after completing theNFET programs in South Africa. The article reports on an empirical study conducted to investigate what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment. The findings reveal that managers did not create adequate linkages that could enable graduates to access needed post-training support, community resources, public goods and services. The author concludes that without linking theNFET programs to external stakeholders, graduates will continue to find it difficult to be employed or to start small businesses which perpetuates unemployment and chronic poverty in South Africa. Keywords: Non-formal education, adult training, employment, centre linkages, South Africa 106 Celestin Mayombe Introduction The central discussion about the provision of adult non-formal education and training (NFET) today is the question: Is training for purposes of merely obtaining a certificate or it training for obtaining employment? Adult NFET has become a significant developmental agenda after the World Education Forum convened in April 2000, had approved the Dakar Framework for Action to the achievement of Education for All (EFA) . Governments, organisations, agencies and associations represented at the World Education Forum had to implement six main goals of EFA (UNESCO, 2011) . The focus of this article relates to goal three which deals with the learning needs of the youth and adults. The World Education Forum stressed the importance of“ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programs”(UNESCO, 2011:4) . The EFA’s third goal lays a ground for providing skills training to all youth and adults in order to integrate into the labour market. In order to achieve this goal three of the Dakar Framework for Action, King (2011) argues that there is a need to develop occupational skills and knowledge, and create enabling factors to ensure that these are utilised to generate income. Previous studies on adult education and training for employment focused only on the contribution of adult non-formal training in reducing poverty among disadvantaged communities. They reveal details on the learning conditions for non-formal (Kyndt, Dochy and Nijs, 2009); job-related non-formal education and training (Kaufmann, 2015); and on training delivery methods (Islam, Mia and Sorcar, 2012; Blaak, Openjuru and Zeelen, 2012) . Morton and Montgomery (2011) note that trainees experience difficulty in finding employment in the formal and informal sectors. Furthermore, trainees do not have access to resources to start their own businesses (Akpama, Esang, Asor and Osang, 2011) . A little is known about the link between NFET programs and employment of the graduates. The present study investigated NFET centres that offer skills training programs to adults in order to empower them to take up wage or self-employment in the fields of agriculture, industry, services and small business activities. The main objective Integrated non-formal education and training programs and centre linkages for adult employment 107 in South Africa of this article is to investigate the extent to which the centres have established effective links with institutions to foster the utilisation of acquired skills in paid or self-employment of graduates. The following secondary objectives are identifie

FAQs

What problem does the article focus on regarding NFET programs in South Africa?

It focuses on adults who remain unemployed long-term after completing NFET programs, questioning whether training leads to employment or only to certification.

What was the main objective of the qualitative study?

To investigate the extent to which NFET centres established effective links with institutions that help graduates use acquired skills in paid or self-employment.

What do the study findings say about centre linkages and graduate employment support?

Managers did not create adequate linkages to enable graduates to access needed post-training support, community resources, and public goods and services.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McGucket