Adult learners are motivated when they know why they should learn a training course and what will be the outcome after completing it. Therefore, they will spend a significant amount of time and great energy analysing what they would benefit from learning a particular training course at a NFE centre and the disadvantages of them not learning it. They prefer to take a course which is based on
53
valid needs and reasons for learning at particular time and place. If the benefits of learning are clearly explained and learning activities are based around real work experiences, then adult learners actively engage in the process of learning.
In the case of the present study, graduates enrolled for a training course with expectation to meet certain needs of life. In this connection, in the questionnaire, graduates were asked to indicate whether the trainers or centre manager asked about his/her own expectations. The finding reveals that 50% (100/200) of graduates agreed that they were asked about their own expectations from learning including goal and objectives. Table 4.3 presents graduates’ expectations from NFE according to their skills training course.
Table 4.3: Graduates’ expectation from NFE by skills training course studied (n=200)2
Note: Percentage within the training courses as some learners selected more than one course.
The analysis of Table 4.3 shows that among 27.5% (55/200) of graduates who studied agricultural technology and were located in rural area, 83.6% (46/55) hoped to open an own small business after graduating. The other 16.4% expected to continue with higher education at higher institution or TVET College. Responses for open question of the questionnaire indicated that the reality is that the majority of the graduates wanted to start their farming projects with the assistance from government agencies in terms of start-up capital. With regard to ancillary health care (26%,
2Frequency in the Table 4.3 reflects responses of a multiple questions and refers to the number of times each training
course was mentioned by a graduate. Although few learners indicated only one of nine skills training courses, there were many who ticked more than one course.
Skills training course
Total within
training course To find a job To open an own small business
To continue with higher education
n % n % n % n %
Agricultural technology 55 27.5 - - 46 83.6 9 16.4
Ancillary health care 52 26 20 38.5 5 9.6 27 51.9
Small medium and
micro enterprises 31 15.5 8 25.8 15 48.4 8 25.8
Travel and tourism 6 3 5 33.3 - - 1 16.6
Information and
computer technology 27 13.5 21 77.8 2 7.4 4 14.8
Craft 24 12 3 12.5 20 83.3 1 4.2
Sewing and fashion
skills 42 21 12 28.6 27 64.3 3 7.1
Poultry 17 8.5 - - 17 100 - -
Co-operative 17 8.5 - - 17 100 - -
54
52/200), 38.5% of the graduates hoped to find a job in the public or private sectors; 9.6% intended to create an own small business; and over half (51.9%, 27/52) expected to continue with higher education.
It is a surprise to see that, of graduates who studied small medium and micro enterprises (SMME), only 48.4% (15/31) intended to create own small businesses after completing the course. Others expected to find job or to continue with higher education. Among learners who studied craft,83.3% expected to open an own small business. However, 64.3% of graduates who studied sewing and fashion skills (21%, 42/200), 64.3% of them intended to open a sewing workshop. This is why they also needed to acquire business skills and knowledge to run a small business. All those who studied poultry and co-operative courses expected to open a micro-enterprise in their specific area of training. So in total, 74.5 % (149/200) of graduates expected to start their own small businesses. The qualitative findings also reveal that graduates between 36 and 55 years old from public or privates centres, rural, per-urban and urban areas who could not further their studies at TVET colleges, were expecting to open an own small business after graduating. A woman graduateof 45 years from a public NFE centre in an urban area said the following:
I attended the training at our adult centre so as to gain skills, which would allow me to start a small business in our community. I wanted to become a self-employed in order to support my children with food and send them to school of good education. I decided to study SMME together with other courses, as it was required from the educators. Now I have completed my training, but I ask myself what business knowledge have I gained? The centre did not help me to start a small business. What I have benefited from our adult centre is only a certificate in adult education.
A second graduate from a public NFE centre in a peri-urban area whose expectation was to open a small business said:
As I was not qualified for a wage employment or any economic activities, I saw opportunities in our community to initiate profitable business in sewing women’s clothes. Then, I joined the skills training programmes and registered for sewing and fashion design skills. I wanted to become a self-employed woman. I was thinking of being involved in sewing and fashion business. At very young age, I started to learn sewing from my mother.
55
A third woman graduate from a private centre in a rural area who studied agricultural technology and SMME also reported by saying:
I joined the adult training centre like other women in our community and selected to learn agricultural technology and SMME for one reason. I was already 48 years old and no one could employ me anymore. The only way I could survive and support my kids was to start a small business. When we completed the skills training, our trainers advised us to initiate poultry and vegetable co-operative.
These qualitative findings are concurrent with quantitative ones that many learners joined the NFE programmes having clear needs and objectives. Both findings from questionnaire and semi- structured interviews with five respondents confirmed that the expectation of older graduates (between 36 and 55 years old to become involved in for self-employment in micro-enterprises after graduating. The combined analysis of the quantitative finding in Table 4.3 and the qualitative data from interviews (above) suggests that these adult graduates were interested to learn skills that would help them meet their needs and objectives. Therefore, they were keen to contribute to the learning process in order acquire skills and knowledge in a specific training course of interest. The significance of examining expectations of graduates in relation to skills training course is to explore the challenges a trainer could face when delivering a training course to learners whose objectives differ from one graduate to another. For example, graduates who intended to find jobs in the public and private sectors would probably desire to see the connection between the approaches of training delivery and what prospective employers prefer as skills and abilities. Those whose expectation was to open an own small business or micro-enterprises would like the teaching and learning approach to be more practical and coupled with entrepreneurship skills in order to become independent workers in the informal economy. For the graduates who intended to continue with higher education, they probably would prefer the approach be academic-oriented in order to prepare them for final examination and get a certificate. Having raised these challenges, the next section will analyse the training delivery environments for skills acquisition to suit the three expectations of the NFE learners.
56