Education and skills for the economy

 

A well-performing education system holds many benefits for inclusion and as a contributor towards economic growth. South Africa set ambitious goals for education at the dawn of democracy, yet a disconnect is apparent between the economic and education systems - at the level of both basic and vocational education. Understanding this disconnect, and the institutional and implementation constraints, has been the subject of recent research. The Employment Promotion Programme commissioned research on the TVET system and its relationship to the manufacturing sector; and a new book has been released focusing on the basic education system by Brian Levy and colleagues: The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces (Oxford University Press, September 2018).

This Development Dialogue aims to discuss some of the challenges and issues for consideration in how the education system impacts on industrial capacity and areas that require attention. 

 

Brian Levy: Brian teaches at the University of Cape Town. He worked at the World Bank from 1989-2012, where he was part of a leadership team that worked to integrate governance into development strategies. He also has authored, co-authored and co-edited numerous books and articles on the interactions between public institutions, the private sector and development. He has a PhD in economics from Harvard University.

 

Carmel Marock: Carmel has 21 years' public sector development experience working mainly in monitoring and evaluation and research in the fields of: education, training and skills development, youth development and poverty alleviation. She has a post-graduate diploma in Engineering and in Monitoring and Evaluation.