Skills For Life

The IYF, the Embassy of Ireland (EoI), PepsiCo Foundation (PFN) and De Beers Group (DB) have partnered to implement the Skills for Life (S4L) initiative, which aims to strengthen teaching and learning in public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, including in life skills, technical, and other fundamental courses.

The S4L initiative is currently implemented in partnership with public TVET colleges in the Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape Province, Western Cape, and Limpopo Provinces. IYF has a growing e-learning portfolio and practice area that is used in service of these goals.

Who is it for?

The core beneficiaries of the Skills for Life (S4L) project are young women and men enrolled within the South African Public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college system. Public TVET college campuses are most often located in low-income communities and the system is designed as an alternative secondary education pathway, particularly for students who only completed up to Grade 9 of the mainstream academic secondary schooling system. For these reasons, the system primarily serves students from historically disadvantaged communities in South Africa, with black African students comprising 90% of enrolments, and 40% of students receiving need-based financial aid.

S4L Project Description

The S4L project seeks to improve the life skills and technical skills of young women and men enrolled in the TVET college system through integrating IYF’s high-quality and proven life skills program, Passport to Success® (PTS), together with our active teaching pedagogy (Effective Teaching), into the existing Life Orientation and technical course curricula to promote  improved academic and workforce outcomes.

In order to ensure that the enhancements made within the TVET College system are fully scalable and sustainable; S4L is developing innovative digitized lecturer support and training aids which will be accessible to colleges and college lecturers throughout the system thereby further aiding the achievement of our program goals and objectives.

Additionally, S4L facilitates employer engagement to ensure students & lecturers better understand industry skills demands with initiatives including  guest lectures from industry, and workplace exposure opportunities for TVET staff and students.

 

S4L Project Description

IYF, the Embassy of Ireland (EI), PepsiCo Foundation (PFN), the De Beers Group, and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) have partnered to implement the Skills for Life (S4L) initiative, which aims to strengthen teaching and learning in public TVET colleges, including in life skills, technical skills, and other fundamental courses.

Through ongoing work with IYF, the value of S4L has been recognised by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).  This is  formalised through a landmark, Letter of Cooperation entered into between IYF and DHET and forms the central axis of the work we carry out in the TVET college system. Through such cooperation with this important South African government department which  oversees universities and other post-secondary education in South Africa, we have been able to Integrate PTS into the LO Curriculum.

S4L Project Goals

The primary goal of the S4L initiative is to support the TVET college system to better prepare young women and men with the life skills and industry-relevant technical competencies needed for academic and workforce success through improved learner retention and completion rates within the TVET college system.

Additionally, positive student impact is the result of well-prepared instruction and highly competent instructors.  IYF therefore enables TVET college lecturers with the tools required to assist them in making classes more engaging, together with the skills required to transition from traditional, rote-style learning, to dynamic active teaching approaches.

The promotion of long-term sustainability and national scale is the overarching goal of S4L and this is carried out through the development of cutting-edge, world-class digital learning content which not only enables accessibility, but also ensures that our learning offering remains relevant in a world which is rapidly pivoting toward digital learning solutions.