NADEOSA Conference Papers 2000 template

Papers Presented at the 2nd National NADEOSA Conference
Held 21-22 August 2000

Author:
Mr Khetsi Lehoko
Deputy Director-General : Further Education and Training : Department of Education, Pretoria South Africa

Title:
Consolidating the Agenda for Flexible and Resource-Based Distance Education : What Matters Most

Introduction

Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Allow me to express my sincerest appreciation for having created this opportunity for me to reflect and share with you some important yardsticks that are imperative for an education system of the 21^st Century.

It gives me great pleasure today to be able to present a paper at a conference organised by the National Association of Distance Education Organisation of South Africa (NADEOSA) an association that represents distance education organisations in South Africa. I am indeed honoured because of my belief in the potential of distance education in supporting the development of a vibrant further education and training system and the impact it can have in higher education and training sector.

The use of distance education has proven to be a potentially cost effective way of delivering appropriate material. All over the world, universities and pre-tertiary public institutions that provide human resource development courses have opted for this mode of delivery because of the impact and the contribution it makes to economies, and to social development and justice. However, I am not saying that all education providers using distance education are doing justice to this delivery mode. Likewise, in South Africa more work still need to be done to ensure that the delivery of education using this mode is one that moves the country closer toward an open learning environment.

The objective of this paper is to provide advice, informed by 21^st Century imperatives, for:

Providing you with legislative and policy context that defines the parameters for our developmental initiatives,

Make a statement on the need to begin to engage with our current provisioning system and ensure that it becomes an open learning system,

The role of providers, using distance education in an environment where skills development is important for the growth of our economy,

Further education and training, and

Finally, to articulate the vision that the Department has in ensuring that the South African education system is in line with 21^st Century imperatives.

Then South African Landscape

The voice of the needy

South Africa is a country where there are approximately 40 million people. Our people have different social, economic and political backgrounds and affiliations. Of these people, there is still a majority who find themselves not being able to read and write, who are confronted on a day-to-day basis by the claws of the lioness; illiteracy.

Amongst the illiterate, you will find a significant number who are struggling to survive make ends meet, who are living below the poverty datum line, who in their daily struggles, do wish for a better life. Amidst these individuals you will find children who, most of them, travel on foot long distance to schools.

In our schools, we meet young South Africans in different grades hoping to pass and receive their matriculation so that they can go to a university or tertiary institution to receive an education that will provide a degree, diploma or a certificate. Many of them will succeed and move to tertiary schools, some will not move on due to challenges that many of us are familiar with.

Imagine if you are in that situation and you dearly want to go to school, university or technikon but are unable to. How would you feel? For many a feeling of hope never prevails because of the rampant limitations in some of these institutions, that offers continuing education. Some of which are marketed as "the best distance education or open learning institutions" in South Africa.

The foundations of education and training transformation. Where it all started.

The first White Paper on education and training in South Africa, published in 1995, was based on four pillars for the transformation of the education and training system. These pillars mapped out a trajectory for the reconstruction of education and training. It identified the following as important basic for that reconstruction:

The reconstruction and development of the education and training programme,

The constitutional and organisational basis for the new system,

Funding of the education system, and

Reconstruction and development in the school system.

The White Paper on education and training identified a set of principles, which today are fundamental in the development work in education. The first White Paper recognises a ‘completely fresh approach to the provision of learning opportunities’ and identified distance education and open learning as crucial mechanisms of change. Important and relevant principles are:

Enabling all people to have access to and succeed in lifelong education and training of good quality,

Increasing access and quality within the national learning system,

Providing equal access to an increasing range of learning possibilities, offering learners greater flexibility in choosing what, where, when, how and what pace they learn,

Placing a special emphasis on the redress of educational inequalities amongst those sections of the population who have suffered particular disadvantages or who are especially vulnerable.

Placing educational provision in accordance with the principle of equity, so that quality of learning opportunities is provided to all citizens.

The importance of improving of the quality of education and training services,

The need to develop an efficient and sustainable education and training system, in order to justify the cost, raise the quality of performance across the system thus improving life chances of all learners,

The need to explore new strategies within severe financial constraints on infrastructure development and innovate new approaches for the provision of learning opportunities, and

Investing in research and development on the appropriateness of distance education strategies for different learning goals, including the use of a variety of media and technologies to support students.

From the White Paper, quality standards emerged for distance education in South Africa. Through this framework, a foundation for quality distance education system based on the principles of open learning was defined.

This draft policy contains value statements that can effectively be used to measure a good distance education system.

The effects of globalisation and the need to adapt

Modern society, influenced by globalisation and new technologies, emphasises the need for skills and for continuing education and training. Many countries, particularly amongst the developing countries, are pushing ahead in what can be described as an education-led for growth, which creates the imperative for a nation to improve on its educational and training performance in order to remain competitive.

The re-entry of South Africa into the competitive international market has created an imperative to develop a skilled, innovative and technologically competent labour force. Our efforts and policies are being formulated to ensure that education and training is structured to meet the human resource and developmental needs of the South African economy and communities in what is regarded as a rapidly changing technological, social and economic environment.

The pressure of globalisation is inevitable, Castell (1995) is vocal when he states that globalisation is encouraging a reformation of class relationships in certain areas and the division arising from this is palpable. In his word he maintains that developing countries need to take charge of the discourse to ensure that they benefit from globalisation. An illustration of this is offered in the case of our Executive President, Thabo Mbeki, negotiating this agenda with leaders of G8 countries in Japan in July 2000.

The agenda re-affirmed

In his Call to Action address, the Minister launched the Tirisano campaign. The implementation plan for Tirisano provides a comprehensive programme of action with five core programmes. The programmes are:

HIV/AIDS,

School Effectiveness and teacher professionalism,

Literacy,

Further Education and Training and Higher education, and

Organisational effectiveness of the provincial department of education.

These programmes indicate the primary mandate and the obligation of ensuring that all people have access to educational opportunities. The programme is also a framework that guides the activities of role players to identify possible areas of support. In the words of the Minister of Education, " All of this effort will not be possible without the mobilisation of South Africans from all walks of life".

Through Tirisano, a vision has been created and identified. It is a vision that attempts to bring our education system in line with the 21^st Century.

Further Education and Training

Further Education and Training (FET) is a new band in the education and training system, designed to integrate education and training with providers catering for almost 3 million learners. The White Paper on FET identifies this sector as an ‘important allocator of life chances’ in so far as it is directed at those learners who are situated at the cross-roads between General Education and Training (GET) and entry to higher education and the world of work.

The Department of Education envisages that the transformation of Further Education and Training will address the challenges of senior secondary schooling, technical colleges and community colleges, so that meaningful education and training opportunities for young people outside formal education can become a reality.

The Department of Education holds the view that FET is expected to play a major role in the education and training of young men and women and adults in South Africa. This can take place through the provision of diverse programmes designed to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that South Africans require as ‘individuals and citizens, for them to play a role in the economic sphere of or society.

Distance Educatin and Open Learning; Are they the Same

Earlier I stated that I am addressing a conference wherein the focus is on Southern African models of Distance Education. I want to start by making a statement that distance education has the potential to contribute towards meeting the education and training needs of any country, especially those countries that have serious problems in accessing formal face-to-face education. South Africa is no exception.

In the earlier address, the Minister said that "we can’t maintain a rigid education and training system inherited from centuries of colonialism and apartheid –we need to move towards an open learning environment.

Open learning is not distance education, open learning is not only for adults, open learning is not home schooling and no organisation can be called an open learning institution because open learning is, an "approach which combines the principle of learner-centredness, lifelong learning, flexible learning, access, recognition for prior learning experience, provision of learner support, the construction of learning programmes in the expectations that learners can succeed and the maintenance of rigorous quality assurance over the design of learning materials and support systems.’

From this definition, what is clear is that the transition of these principles into practice is by no means a simple procedure. For one to embrace these principles and the concept of open learning into practice it requires a comprehension of the reality of our countries education and training landscape and transcending to a new way of thinking about education.

Open learning must inform educational practises with the aim of improving them. In many instances providers make concessions on the translation of these principles into practice in the face of a range of constraints. I would advice that no matter how tough the challenges are, it is important that one must not compromise the principles. When attempting to use the approach as a benchmark, and the compromises happens, such a compromise allows space for the assumption that an educational initiative or practice no longer requires improvement. It is always important that educational providers think critically and reflect about the nature of their provision and the ways in which it can be improved.

It is also necessary to debunk the myth that open learning is an absolute goal, which can achieve full practical expression in individual initiatives. Instead, it must be seen as an ongoing process where educational aims and goals lead to actions, which when evaluated, contributes to the continual revision of the goals leading to the improvement of educational practises.

Another important dimension is the way one makes the distinction between ‘distance’ and ‘contact’. This is an outdated dichotomy. A new approach is vital in our context because it can enable planners to remove the baggage of educational models developed for fundamentally different contexts. This conceptual shift is vital in changing the structure of GET and FET systems in South Africa. In particular, it will allow for greater flexibility and open possibilities of collaboration, both which are vital to improvements in educational quality and cost-effectiveness of educational provision, issues of particular relevance to South African policy-makers currently.

Distance Education is not Open Learning. Distance education describes a collection of methods for the provision of a structured learning discourse. In many instances this does not provide a better chance of educational success. Instead open learning is built around key principles. These principles are important because in applying them one can effectively inform and transform the educational practice. These principles are learner-centredness, lifelong learning, flexibility, access, and recognition of prior learning experiences, cost effectiveness, learner support and expectation for success.

Strategic Direction

I have attempted to clarify the two concepts that sometimes confuse. I hope this serves as a basis for me to start identifying some of the direction that we must take to implement and start advancing educational delivery in South Africa.

From policy formulation to implementation

The Department of Education has made significant achievements in creating a new policy environment for further development work. That framework must serve as a basis to give intensive attention and activity to implement and change the lives of South Africans. We need to take it from here, even be critical on the developments so far – and ensure large-scale delivery of high quality education.

Curriculum delivery and support

There is an urgent need to look at the models of curriculum delivery. Generating and disseminating high quality flexible curriculum resources to support open and flexible learning must take centre stage for the work of providers.

The role and importance of learning support material and learner support is fundamental in this. We need to build models, such as you are doing at this conference, and share good practices.

Building an infrastructure to support education and training delivery

The effective implementation of distance and resource-based learning strategies, particularly to enhance FET implementation, will depend heavily on a functional technology infrastructure. The proposal on the establishment of an educational technology network forms the basis for moving in that direction. This network will include not only the use of ICTs for accessing resources and for communication purposes, but will also include harnessing the potential of broadcasting technologies, particularly satellite technologies to further advance the quest to improve our education system.

This will allow for exploring the possibilities of utilising large-scale bandwidth for distributing a wide range of digital resources of different media formats throughout the education and training system, particularly the FET band in this case. Implementing and testing the efficacy of a proposed Educational Network is a priority area for the Department. Through this network the potential for an improve infrastructure for distance education can be achieved within GET and FET.

It is proposed that this network could support the implementation of the FET strategies in content acquisition and dissemination, improving communications of these institutions, and facilitating an improved administration and management of these institutions.

The case for using resource based learning approaches

The use of Resource-based learning approaches within FET provision is deemed necessary, firstly because of the sheer scale of learning material and programmes that can potentially become available within this sector. There is little likelihood of having sufficient educators, tutors and facilities available to provide traditional lecture-style, face-to-face tuition. Coupled to this are also the following factors:

A questioning of the traditional notion that a talking teacher is the most effective strategy for communicating curriculum. This is leading to a review of the instructional design of learning resources, as educators become aware of the limitations of lecture-based strategies for communicating information to students.

The emerging shift in the role of the educator toward becoming facilitators of learning.

The integration of technologies to support, improve and enhance teaching and learning environments.

Schools therefore will need to provide more meaningful and varied opportunities to acquire useful and relevant knowledge and skills.

The current status of these and other colleges within the FET band are generally poor. Programmes and curricula tend to be overly academic, theoretical and out of touch with the needs of learners and the labour market. The FET system in its current form is characterised by fragmentation, poor co-ordination, inefficiency and inequality. Many institutions within this sector suffer from inadequate facilities and staff, poor quality in course delivery, inefficiency and ineffectiveness. There is a general concern about the practical implications for schools and provincial education departments to integrate into the new FET strategies, and the pace at which such integration can occur. Fundamental to this integration is also a strong need to improve learner support systems.

Role of providers

It is indeed gratifying to see at this conference the strong emphasis that is being placed on the development of good learning material, learner support and the appropriate use of technologies.

In an effort to ensure that there is movement in the area, the Department has taken a first step in this direction with the research into open learning in South African General and Further Education and Training. Through this, we want to build systems to apply open and flexible learning approaches and to create an environment where providers in the system move towards openness in their institution and their offerings. As you know the provider’s plays a critical link in the chain, hence they must act as change agents.

Providers need to develop meaningful education and training opportunities that offer a wide range of learning options for people outside the formal education system, which would include a diverse range of learners such as out-of-school youth, young adults and a larger adult population.

For too long the criterion for educational effectiveness has been on the number of students enrolling or the number of research papers an institution or lecturers have produced. We need to move on and focus on the quality of the learning process – in fact, the learner needs to be the focus of all our efforts. It is indeed healthy to see that the emphasis is beginning to move toward an area that is significantly more meaningful within the area education and training provision, namely that of the quality and effectiveness of the learning process.

Conclusion

We acknowledge there is no ‘quick fix’ for the challenges in the education and training system. We acknowledge that the process of transformation is going to require major planning, design, financial restructuring, political strength and hard work at all levels.

This will be intensified with the urgency of current pressing problems, while ensuring a long-term vision of creating much more flexible and open educational opportunities. Nevertheless, we remain convinced that the future is bright, there is a solid platform of policies, but more important a solid platform of dedicated people like you sitting in front of me and various outside this building on which the country can now build in modernising our schools and centres of learning.

Thank You

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