Education with a purpose: Aligning skills training with employability

 Publication: The Public Sector Manager

Author: Phakama Mbonambi 

Photo: Not specified 

South Africa's education system is undergoing a fundamental shift, a trend that is likely to accelerate this year. The discussion has shifted after years of concentrating on training statistics, such as student enrolment and graduation rates. The question now is not just about who is being trained, but where they end up.

With youth unemployment at alarming levels and 3.8 million youth (people aged 15 and 24) not in employment, education or training (NEETs), the country cannot afford to produce graduates who add to unemployment queues. The imperative is clear: training must lead to employability.

“The success of our sector is not in just skilling and training but in ensuring that we are training and skilling for employability,” Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Mimi Gondwe, told PSM recently. “That is where our success lies – in where our students end up once they emerge from the sector”.

Focusing on employability

The focus on employability outcomes is increasingly urgent across sectors. Youth Employment Service (YES) Chief Executive Officer Ravi Naidoo emphasises the stakes: “It is critical for South Africa to develop a generation of youth who are confident and competent with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology,” he said at Microsoft’s AI Skilling Day in June 2025.

YES is a non-profit organisation tackling youth unemployment through public-private partnerships and works directly with young people to connect them with skills and workplace experience. The shift from training graduates to ensuring they can compete in a changing economy is no longer optional.

Redefining employability

The national pathway – study, graduate and get a job – no longer reflects economic reality. South Africa’s economy is unlikely to absorb all graduates into formal employment. This has forced a redefinition of what “employability” means.

Education experts and policymakers now view employability as encompassing three pathways: formal employment, self-employment, and entrepreneurship. In an economy with limited job creation, Gondwe said graduates need to be equipped not just to find work, but to create it. “We need to see more young people starting their own businesses,” explained Gondwe.

Critical skills for 2026: where is the focus?

Several critical skill areas have emerged as priorities for preparing South Africa’s workforce. These include entrepreneurship, AI and digital skills, artisan skills and demand-led training.

Entrepreneurship: from afterthought to foundation

Perhaps the most significant shift is the move to embed entrepreneurship throughout the curriculum rather than treating it as an elective or add-on. The approach aims to normalise self-employment as a viable career path from the earliest stages of training.

Enterprise hubs at technical and vocational education and training colleges and centres of excellence are being strengthened, and programmes are being designed to ensure young people understand that starting their own business is a legitimate option – not a fallback plan. The challenge is changing a mindset that has long equated success with formal employment.

AI and digital skills: preparing for disruption

AI presents both opportunity and threat. While certain roles will be automated, new opportunities are emerging for those with the right digital skills.

Through partnerships with information and communications technology companies such as Microsoft, which signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in October 2025, students are being equipped with AI and digital capabilities.

However, questions remain about whether the pace of curriculum change can keep up with technological advancement.

“It is a double-edged sword because there are certain roles and responsibilities that are going to be replaced by AI but there are those that can not,” Gondwe noted.

She added that the challenge for education planners is determining which skills will remain relevant as technology advances and which new competencies students will need to thrive in an AI-driven economy.

Artisan skills: the irreplaceable foundation

Despite the push towards digital skills, there is growing recognition that traditional artisan trades remain critical to economic infrastructure – and cannot be automated.

Plumbers, electricians, welders and other skilled tradespeople are in high demand, yet South Africa continues to experience shortages in these areas. Education planners emphasise that the future workforce needs both digital fluency and practical, hands-on skills.

The department has been clear that artisan training remains a priority alongside newer skills areas, recognising that infrastructure development and maintenance will always require hands-on expertise.

Demand-led training: aligning with market needs

Increasingly, the call is for skills development to be driven by what the economy actually needs rather than what institutions have traditionally offered.

“Our approach to skills development should be demand-led and, of course, opportunity-led,” Gondwe said. “We have to skill for the future, and not just for the now and the immediate future.”

This requires closer collaboration between education institutions and industry to ensure training aligns with real job opportunities – both current and emerging. The challenge lies in balancing immediate skills needs with longer-term, future-focused training.

Private sector partnerships

One of the most significant developments in recent months has been the acceleration of partnerships between government and private sector to bridge the gap between learning and earning.

Since mid-2024, the DHET has signed major agreements with various stakeholders. These include the Memorundum of understanding with Old Mutual on skills development and financial literacy, Microsoft on AI and digital skills and Takealot Group on youth skills development and education-to-employment pathways.

Four more partnerships are reportedly in the pipeline, including international collaborations.

These partnerships are structured to yield measurable results and extend beyond universities to community colleges. For public sector managers, they offer a model for how government can leverage private sector expertise and resources to amplify impact.

The partnerships aim to ensure that what is being taught aligns with what industry actually needs.

Reaching the unreached: targeting NEETs

One of the most challenging cohorts to reach is the 3.8 million young people classified NEETs. Many have disengaged from formal systems entirely.

Government has responded with programmes designed to take higher education opportunities directly to rural and under-resourced communities. The Taking Higher Education to the People programme visits these areas to inform young people about opportunities beyond traditional universities.

Business and skills izimbizo, held in partnership with municipalities, aim to access the NEET cohort directly. The Matric Support Programme also seeks to bridge the gap between basic and higher education, preparing students for post-school opportunities before they become disconnected from the system.

Measuring success

The ultimate test of the new approach will be tracking graduate outcomes. What are employment rates in the immediate future after graduates complete training? The answer will determine whether the shift from training-focused to employability focused education is succeeding.

Tracking employment outcomes requires new systems, new data collection methods and sustained follow-up with graduates.

As the sector shifts its focus, the success of South Africa’s skills development system will be judged not by how many people are trained, but by the outcomes they achieve.