Step 4: Occupational Knowledge and Practical Learning
After a learning programme agreement is registered with a relevant SETA and a contract of learning including funding arrangements are in place, the artisan learner now enters an accredited artisan training centre. The learner then commences with the occupational knowledge and practical learning that is specific to the artisan trade.
This specific trade occupational knowledge and practical component may be offered by the same or different providers that offered the generic or vocational or fundamental knowledge. This will depend on the accreditation scope of the Skills Development Provider. The specific trade occupational knowledge is contextualized within the learning process to specific tasks required such as fault finding, manufacturing, repair, services etc.
The occupational trade knowledge may also have components of mathematics, science, drawing and technical language specific to the trade. Such knowledge is applied to the specific trade occupation as the learner learns and applies the knowledge daily in an integrated fashion. The practical learning that accompanies the occupational knowledge learning contextualizes and applies the trade knowledge component to stimulated situations in practical setting in a training centre.
This ensures that learners are effectively prepared for workplace learning which follows after the occupational knowledge and practical learning process. The occupational knowledge and practical learning must be offered at an accredited training centre covering the entire scope of an application to the specific trade. This learning is also known as the “off the job” of learning that is progressively and sequentially taught. This ensures that the artisan learner slowly and systematically gains competencies relevant to his or her trade.
At certain pre-determined stages there are formative assessments applied, previously known as phase tests, to ensure that learners have assimilated the occupational knowledge and practical skills and can proceed to the next stage. Much of this occupational knowledge and practical learning are simulations of the type of work that the learner will actually engage in once he or she is finally a qualified artisan.
NEXT: Step 5: Workplace Learning