CAREER GUIDANCE SOUTH AFRICA 2024: MOVING FROM POLICY TO STRATEGY
This excellent Powerpoint presentation by Ms Nozuko Mfenyana, Project Manager, Career Development Services Systems Coordination, Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), at the recent NICDS Policy Dialogue, describes the challenges of implementing government career guidance policy in South Africa.
Policy, strategy, systems, and practice are key components of career guidance provision in any country. It’s rare to find examples of countries where such moving parts, like a motor car engine, function in a holistic, integrated and harmonised fashion! DHET has a lead role in coordinating the moving parts in South Africa, and in particular, for developing quality frameworks for career service harmonisation and standards for user experiences (equality of access to career guidance and of treatment for target groups across a diversity of settings). The Policy Dialogue approach seeks to improve how careers services are planned and coordinated both across government departments and agencies, and between those and non-government organisations, in order to prevent duplication and fragmentation and to promote the efficient use of scarce resources and accountability. This is important given the limitations of public funding for career guidance provision.
We encourage DHET and its partners to continue the policy dialogue approach and wish them every success in achieving the South Africa government policy goals for career guidance provision.