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Reclaiming TVET as a Humanising Space: Reflective Insights from South Africa’s First Advanced Diploma in Technical and Vocational Teaching

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Despite its critical role in addressing youth unemployment, South Africa’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector is hampered by structural inequities, social stigma, and a banking model of instruction. While policy reforms target technical competencies, a significant gap remains in lecturers’ professional development, which frequently neglects the relational, reflective, and pedagogical practices necessary for transformative practice in Global South contexts. This research investigates how a pedagogical intervention can be collaboratively designed and implemented within an Advanced Diploma in TVET to support lecturer professional development and the cultivation of transformative agency. The study employs a design-based research (DBR) approach, positioning the researchers as active participants in iterative cycles of analysis, design, implementation, and reflection. Data were generated through collaborative self-reflection, including learning diaries, narrative free writing, and paired dialogues, and were analysed using thematic analysis to track pedagogical and ontological shifts over time. Results indicate that humanising TVET practice requires a relational praxis grounded in dialogical engagement and mutual vulnerability, which disrupts traditional classroom hierarchies. Furthermore, findings reveal that a contact-synced live blended architecture can bridge geographical divides while maintaining human-centredness. The intervention fostered critical consciousness, enabling lecturers to transition from passive policy implementers to African activists who localise knowledge and promote entrepreneurial agency. This study makes a methodological contribution to the field by positioning DBR as a transformative design logic uniquely suited for decolonial, contextually grounded transformation in the Global South.

Source: Educational Research for Social Change

DOI: 10.17159/2221-4070/2026/v15i0a9

Authors: Joshua Jacobs, Heloise Sathorar

Institution: Nelson Mandela University

Language: English

Topic: Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $217