Short Courses, Lasting Value - Why Skills Programmes Work for Employers and Learners

Ask any manager where their team falls short and the answer usually comes quickly. Perhaps it is a supervisor who has never been taught to handle conflict or change, or a sales team that struggles to up their customer service game. It could be an operations manager that needs to sharpen their business administration or service provider management skills. They don’t need a traditional months’ long training route, but rather a short, highly focused training solution that closes identified skills gaps.

Skills programmes are short, accredited and focused on a specific need.

“Learnerships have been central to skills development in South Africa for more than 20 years. They have helped many people into lasting employment,” says Anton Visser, Chief Operations Officer of SA Business School & Alefbet Learning. “But businesses are also changing, and so is the demand for training that is flexible and quick to deliver. Skills programmes sit alongside learnerships rather than replacing them. They let companies upskill their people now, while learners or employees earn credits that move them towards a full qualification on the NQF.”

Built from the same blocks as a learnership

A skills programme is an occupationally-based short course. It is designed to meet a specific skills need and forms part of an organisation’s workplace skills planning process. Its structure is what makes it so useful:

·         A skills programs is compiled by the employer, after a particular skills need has been identified as part of the workplace skills planning process. The program will then be registered with the relevant SETA and is also certified through the NQF-based accreditation route.

·         Skills programs are one or more-unit standards that lead to a skill and earns a credit on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) towards a qualification. They are designed as an occupationally-based, short-term learning program.

·         One of the key benefits of a skills programme is that employers and training providers are able to structure a programme that meets the specific skills needs of the employer and employees, for a particular skill.  A learner can learn a specific skill set based on a group of unit standards, in a matter of days or weeks depending on the number of unit standards covered, instead of having to complete an entire qualification as in the case of a Learnership, which typically takes one year or more. 

·         The big benefit is that while they are much shorter than a learnership and highly focused, these skills programmes can also culminate in an NQF qualification if the learner decides to pursue the completion of the remaining unit standards.

·         Training is offered by an accredited training provider and at the end of the course the learner receives a ‘Statement of Results’.

·         Just like a learnership, skills programmes are offered by employers or businesses, they earn points that go towards the BBBEE score of the business, and they are available to both employed and unemployed learners.

Time is often the deciding factor. A learnership takes more than a year to complete. A skills programme is often wrapped up in days or weeks. “The training is quick, and the impact shows almost immediately,” says Visser. “Because the programmes are targeted, a business can focus on exactly the skills it and its employees need. That might be finance for non-finance managers, customer service, conflict management or team leadership.”

Accredited options cover a broad spread of business needs. Business administration is one. Others include communication and professional skills, finance and business operations, risk management essentials, project management, business information systems, and management and leadership development. There are also programmes focused on employee relations and workplace culture for example.

Lower cost, real returns

Skills programmes need less time and fewer resources than full learnerships, which makes them the more economical option. Used well, they help build a culture in which professional development is continuous rather than occasional.

There is a scorecard benefit too. Skills programmes help businesses meet their B-BBEE training spend targets, and they can empower both employed and unemployed learners.

“They are an excellent way to close skills gaps you have already identified,” Visser adds. “They also help you make up any shortfall in skills spend before the financial year-end. For businesses with a February year-end, the window to act is already narrowing.”

Every skills programme completed is a step forward

For learners, the value runs deeper than a certificate. Each completed programme brings them closer to a full qualification and a sustainable career. In a world of work that keeps asking people to adapt and embrace change, skills programmes help prepare teams to handle complex challenges and take up new opportunities, and they help businesses stay competitive while their people grow. Above all, they form part of a longer journey that builds meaningful career development opportunities for South Africans.

Choosing the right partner

Getting the most from skills programmes and learnerships depends on how they are designed. Visser advises businesses to work with a professional training partner that can build a bespoke learning and development solution. That solution should be shaped around the business, its people and their capacities, as well as its budget.

“Tax incentives and a better B-BBEE scorecard are part of the picture, but they are not the whole story,” he says. “This is about laying strong foundations for people in meaningful, sustainable jobs and career paths. That is how we address critical skills shortages and build a competitive advantage for businesses and for our economy,” concludes Visser.

For more information, visit https://sabusinessschool.com/skills-programmes/