The Basic Education Ministry continues to engage various education stakeholders to ramp up the effective implementation of the Three Stream Model in South Africa. The Three Stream Model is currently at an advanced stage in various provinces, with a number of education districts advancing towards the full-scale implementation of the model in the Basic Education Sector. Minister Angie Motshekga attended the Three Stream Model (TSM) Workshop at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre this week, to urge national and provincial education officials responsible for curriculum, national assessment and teacher development to register progress in terms of institutionalising the TSM in the country.
On the first day of the Workshop, the participants, consisting of representatives from the DBE, PEDs, academia and the private sector were grouped into various workstreams to share input and insights on the subject matter. These workstreams included: Workstream 1, which focused on Schools of Skill and the implementation of the Occupational Stream; Workstream 2 highlighted Lessons Learnt from the Pilot and Implications for the Implementation of the TSM; Workstream 3 focused on Curriculum and Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) Readiness; Workstream 4 dealt with the Teacher Development, Institution, and Assessment and Exam Readiness; whilst Workstream 5 looked into Funding, Resourcing, Partnership and Advocacy to assist the process of institutionalising the TSM across all nine provinces.
Reflecting on the significant progress registered by the DBE in terms of accelerating the implementation of the TSM, Dr Barney Mthembu, Deputy Director-General for Curriculum at the DBE, said that the introduction of the TSM was intended to diversify the school curriculum by offering learners greater choices in the selection of learning pathways within the academic, vocational and occupational schooling streams. “This seeks to achieve successful education outcomes based on the learners’ interests, aptitudes and abilities. The intended split is 40%: 60% on the academic versus vocational and occupation offerings. During the 6th Administration, we finalised the Concept Document on the Three Stream Model in October 2020, by anchoring the programme on the Articulation Framework to allow learners to articulate between institutions and programmes between the DBE and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and to the world of work through the Department of Labour.
We further, rigorously researched and benchmarked the design and development of the TSM curriculum resulting in approval of 13 Vocational and 26 Occupational subjects by Umalusi and the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) between 2022 and 2023 respectively. The DBE Piloted 13 Vocational subjects in Grades 8 and 9 in 150 Public Ordinary Schools and Focus Schools. The DBE also piloted and implemented 26 Occupational subjects from 74 to 152 schools in 2024; Schools of Skill from 2021 and introduced the same subjects in the FET Phase from 2023.
We are moving forward with haste on the recommendations of the Think Tank (May 2023), on the further conceptual clarification of the TSM and the timely introduction of the Occupational Stream in the FET Phase. We will prioritise the institutionalisation of Career Education and Guidance in the schooling sector in line with the provisions of the “National Policy for an Integrated Career Development System for South Africa” under the leadership of the DHET.
We also intend to conduct an integrated training for teachers and subject advisors in TSM practical skills at the earliest during the 2nd quarter of the 2024 academic year calendar. Mobilisation of funding from various sources, infrastructure development and human resource provision and development will have to be prioritised. The creation and adequate resourcing of a new TSM structure at National, Provincial, District and School levels should receive serious consideration,” highlighted Dr Mthembu.
Speaking during the Workshop, Minister Motshekga said that in the past few years there were few opportunities for young people under the age of 18 years to pursue vocational and occupational education based on their aptitude and interests within the basic education sub-system. “In addition, although technical and focus secondary schools existed within the basic education family, they made up a small proportion of public ordinary secondary schools across the country. In making up for this disparity, the sector intends to increase the uptake in vocational and occupational subjects to 60% of learners while toning down the academic subjects’ uptake to 40% of learners. The TSM seeks to respond to labour market needs by equipping learners with much-needed vocational and occupational skills, knowledge and competencies. As the name suggests, the TSM gives learners a choice between the ‘Academic, Vocational, or Occupational Streams’. These multiple pathways enable learners to select a path that suits their talents and prepares them for the World of Work.
The TSM seeks to strengthen vocational and occupational offerings in public ordinary schools, in focus schools as well as in the Schools of Skill (SoS), for learners with special educational needs. It is envisaged that the learners in the vocational and occupational streams will articulate seamlessly into the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) system, which includes the World of Work. This will reduce the inefficiencies in the current education system where learners finishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) often enrol for the National Certificate Vocational (NC(V)) qualification in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College sector, whereas both qualifications are pegged at Level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Learners waste valuable time, effort and public resources by repeating similar qualifications,” added Minister Motshekga.
During day two of the workshop, the participants shared inputs emanating from Workstream deliberations. The final report will play a pivotal role in the consolidation of the handover report from 6th administration to the 7th Administration.