1.6.1 Personal motivation and significance of the study
I have been involved in adult and Non-formal Education for almost all my adult life as my journey with adult and Non-formal Education began early in my professional life. When I completed my ‘O’ level 3, I went for a pre-service course in science education. It was whilst I was pursuing that course that I learnt of a Diploma in Home Economics Extension. This was a course that would have enabled me to assist women: individuals, groups and cooperatives in communities in the development of their Home Economics skills. I was disappointed to find that the course had been discontinued and had to pursue the Diploma in Home Economics to teach in secondary schools.
After teaching in a secondary school for a year, I applied for a position to work with Rural Education Centres4. This position gave me the opportunity I had always looked forward to: working with the disadvantaged members of our community, both men and women, both young and old. I worked with the Rural Education Centres as a Teacher Leader in Adult and Non-formal Education for 26 years where I facilitated the acquisition of vocational skills among out-of-school youth and adults. It was at this time when I started realizing that there were youths who had never been to school or had dropped out of formal education. These youths could not access tertiary education or formal employment because they lacked academic qualifications. Some of these youths used the Non-formal Education route to access self- or wage-employment by enrolling in the vocational skills programme. Although the youths managed to have a form of livelihood, the society and the youths themselves did not recognise this form of employment in the same way as formal employment accessed after tertiary education.
I joined Sebenta National Institute in 2010 where my involvement in adult and Non-formal Education broadened. I worked with adults and out-of-school youth and children throughout the country. The Institute’s mandate was to provide Basic Literacy, Vocational Skills as well as Non-formal or Continuing Education. From 2010, the Institute extended its work to
3
‘O’ Level is the higher secondary education last grade where students write an external examination for entrance into an institute of higher education. This level is currently referred to as the Swaziland General Certificate for Secondary Education (SGCSE).
4
Rural Education Centres (REC) are formal education schools, mainly secondary, where even adults and youth come to use the same facility as children to learn vocational skills for self- and wage-employment.
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provide Non-formal Primary Education (NPE) to out-of-school or over-age children. The major focus was creating equivalence between formal and Non-formal Education such that a learner re-joins formal education at age and grade appropriate levels. On implementing the Non-formal Primary Education mandate, the Institute realised that the programme attracted not just out-of-school children, enabling them to re-join the formal education system, but also a number of youths and adults enrolled. To me that was lifelong learning in practice as those who were age appropriate re-joined formal secondary education after their Eswatini Primary Certificate examination whilst the older and employed demanded Non-formal Secondary Education. The Institute witnessed an annual increase in enrolment of youths and adults in the Non-formal Education programmes (both academic and vocational skills). For me, this increase demonstrated a need for an educational programme that would be flexible to meet the educational needs of learners at their point of need, irrespective of age and socio-economic background. It indicated that, with a full political will, an intervention that met youths’ educational needs was possible and this could ultimately reduce the number of NEETs in Eswatini.
1.6.2 Significance of the study
I share the view as espoused by UNESCO (2010, p. 55) that ‘denying children an opportunity to place even a first step on the education ladder sets them on a course for a lifetime of disadvantage’. It violates their basic human right to education. It also wastes a precious national resource and precludes a potential driver of economic growth and poverty reduction. In most cases out-of-school youth are often overlooked and talked about but not with. Educational progress often focuses on school progression for the age appropriate group whilst the situation of dropouts among children and adolescents has been subject to less scrutiny. The government’s focus has up to now, like the Out-of-school children report in Eswatini by Berg, Wyk, Hofmeyr and Ferreira (2018), beenonly on data reflecting educational access for all children and adolescents, school drop-outs, progression through primary education and the transition to secondary education. However, these data lack what the out-of-school children and youth have to say for themselves about their education. The contribution of this study is that out-of-school youths’ views need to be considered, not only those views expressed superficially through simple questions and answers but through appealing to their inner being so as to access their feelings, attitudes and world view. Such views would then inform educational policies meant to address youth and NEETs in particular.
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1.6.3 Gap in scholarship
There has been no similar study on education from the NEET’s point of view in Eswatini, and very few elsewhere. Most studies and reports in Eswatini are about statistics and learning for children in the main stream. A few studies reflect only statistics on the children and youth who are out-of-school including those not in employment or training. These studies include the Out-of-school children report in Eswatini (Berg, Wyk, Hofmeyr & Ferreira, 2018), the study on Youth and Adult Learning in Southern Africa (Aitchison, 2010), and the Brenthurst Foundation report (Oppenheimer et al., 2011). These studies will be discussed further in Chapter 2. Reports include MDG progress reports (UNESCO, 2010, 2015) and annual reports from the Eswatini’s Ministry of Education and Training (EMIS, 2012, 2013), which mainly focus on statistics from formal education. Other studies which focused on non-formal or out- of-school learning, as well as some studies like the Sebenta National Institute census on the profile of learners in Non-formal Education (Sebenta National Institute, 2012). This study reflects that this group is side-lined, ignored and/or not often included in socio-economic development issues. So this study aims to bring in how the NEETs feel about their educational experiences, which are often ignored and only statistically represented in their formative years.
The other gap that this study will address is on the methodology. While studies exist which have engaged youth as co-researchers such as Smith (2010) and Shelagh (2015), discussed in Chapter Five, this has not been done regarding the experiences of NEETs. For this research, I used NEET’s as co-researchers who were trained on data collection using a semi-structured questionnaire.
1.6.4 The lifelong learning approach that underpins this study
This study is situated within the lifelong learning approach. Although Varavan (2010, p.70) views lifelong learning as ‘elusive’ and Aspin (2007, p. 4) says it is a ‘slippery term’, I use this approach as a guiding and organising principle in understanding the needs of the NEETs. The lifelong learning approach is a call for educational reform and a fresh look at the concept of learning which encompasses a broader perspective than viewing learning only as formal schooling (Ouane, 2011). Viewing learning beyond formal schooling to include informal and non-formal is often interpreted differently not only in different contexts but even within the same context (Aspin, 2007, 2012; Varavan, 2010). I think the broad view of learning is necessary to understand NEETs within Eswatini’s socio-economic and political context.
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Even though there are different perspectives, many theorists agree on the main components of the lifelong learning approach: the need to learn from the cradle to the grave (Aspin, 2007; Medel-Anonvevo, 2002; Ouane, 2011; Preece, 2009; Yang & Valdes-Cotera, 2011; Duke & Hinzen, 2012). The lifelong learning approach states that learning takes place at all times, at all levels and by many means: formal, non-formal and informal. According to Duke and Hinzen (2012, p.19), ‘learning must be associated with all dimensions of life conceived and expressed as ‘lifelong’, ‘life-wide’ and ‘life-deep’. The lifelong learning approach states that individuals are continuously in need of acquiring skills, knowledge and competencies for them to function within society at any given stage. This learning is needed to fulfil individuals’ personal purposes, social purposes, economic purposes and social cohesion (Banks, Au, Ball, Gordon, Gutierrez, Heath, & Zhou, 2007).