Browsing by Author "Shalem, Yael"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dental occupations in transition: Boundary contestation and curricula for Oral hygienists in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Vergotine, Glynnis; Allais, Stephanie; Shalem, Yael
    This study sought to understand how changes to the scope and autonomy of the oral hygiene occupation in South Africa have influenced relations among dental occupations. Over the past two decades, legislative advances in South Africa have sanctioned new possibilities for mid-level dental occupations such as oral hygienists, allowing them greater independence and additional procedures. The division of labour within the dental profession is that oral hygienists and dental therapists supplement the work that dentists do by offering some of the basic dental services. The changes to oral hygienists’ scope and independence have initiated boundary contestations around the work and training of dental professionals. The qualitative study involved analysing relevant regulatory documents and included semi-structured interviews with representatives of professional bodies and regulatory bodies as well as practitioners and lecturers representing the three dental occupations, and curriculum analyses. A key empirical finding is that the regulatory changes have not been implemented and this is so not only because of contestations by dentists. The study highlights boundary contestations between dentists and oral hygienists. These contestations are about specific procedures in the expanded scope of practice and the opportunity for hygienists to practice independently. The study found that boundaries have been established from outside of the oral hygiene occupation by dentists, to control their work and training. Dentists’ power is exhibited in the labour market and the education and training arena and provides justifications for why the official legislative changes in scope are not being implemented. Despite this, hygienists also place boundaries on themselves, so within the occupation, there are various ways in which hygienists limit their advancement. The hygienists are hesitant to perform certain procedures and have not opened independent practices. This suggests that pressure to narrow the scope and autonomy may not only come from outside of occupations but also from the inside of an occupation. The thesis shows a web of power relations between occupations and provides insights into a dominant occupation controlling the jurisdiction of subordinate occupations; but more unusually, it reveals the dynamics within the mid-level occupation that stifle its advancement.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Education and work - what can and what can’t be learnt from and at work, and why?
    (Centre for Researching and Education labour (REAL), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020) Shalem, Yael; Ramsarup,Presha
    The EWSETA is being a provider or accreditor of short courses as part of the broader effort in South Africa to improve the provision of professional education in preparation for work as well for development during employment. Whilst there is a consensus that education in necessary for preparation and for development of occupational workers (henceforth ‘workers’) there is debate on what form of training is more meaningful, educationally, and more productive in terms of improvement of work.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Investigating the ways in which educational credentials influence employers’ hiring decisions
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Sekokope, Abram Sello; Shalem, Yael; Allais, Stephanie Matseleng
    There is a strong link between formal education and results on the labor market, like employment and earning potential, according to a wealth of research. Academic credentials are frequently seen as a doorway into mainstream economic engagement on a global scale, which justifies corporate and public investment in higher education. What is not always evident are the interpretations that companies give to educational credentials in particular settings, such as hiring decisions, and what these meanings reveal about the recruiting criteria of employers for potential employees. The purpose of this study was to comprehend the significance that employers place on qualifications and how this significance affects the hiring processes. In order to do this, the study looked at the hiring of engineers at two different occupational levels at four South African State-Owned Companies. To ascertain the meanings that employers attach to qualifications when screening CVs for engineering positions, a descriptive phenomenological technique was taken into consideration and enhanced with the use of hypothetical CVs. Three theoretical viewpoints were used as the foundation for this study in order to comprehend employer opinions of what qualifications actually mean. They were the credentialism theory, the screening and signalling theories, and the human capital theory. According to the study, ownership of a qualification gave an individual a competitive edge in the labor market and was viewed as a main selection criterion from all three theoretical viewpoints. Main findings: The selection criteria for the two engineering positions at the two distinct levels were compared in this study. First, the results imply that the recruiting standards for a Junior Manager Mechanical Engineering post and an Electrical Engineering Technician, a lesser entry-level role, differ significantly. I discovered that the primary distinction between the two was the importance of qualifications in the hiring process for lower entry-level positions. The findings indicate that at this level, employers view qualifications as the main criterion for choosing the best applicant for the position because they believe they provide a sufficient indication of the knowledge and skills needed to perform the work. According to the statistics, individuals with the most relevant credentials and those who earned high marks in their degrees and certifications were seen as having a greater understanding of the subject matter of their credentials and were therefore given preference during the hiring process. This result appears to support the human capital theory's assertion that qualifications represent knowledge and abilities because it substantially aligns with its underlying premises. Secondly, I found that, when it came to the management role, candidates' qualifications were not taken into account in isolation but rather coupled with additional credentials, such as prior work experience. In reality, I discovered that in this area, job experience was valued equally to or even more than qualifications when hiring at management levels. For instance, it seemed that companies would prefer to go with someone with work experience in some situations, such as when the minimal qualification criteria was not entirely completed. Although the focus of my study was on qualifications, some of the companies made a strong case for the value of prior job experience, sometimes at the price of qualifications. While this does not go against the principle of human capital, it does imply that job experience may be viewed as a more valuable indicator of applicable human capital than qualifications for management roles. Finally, I discovered that job experience was essential for the development of soft skills like problem solving, teamwork, communication, and leadership, among others. According to the statistics, these talents can be developed over time with the proper amount of work experience, mentoring, and coaching. Fourth, I discovered that the relationship between work experience and qualifications was complex and complementary, and that worker productivity was not a function of qualifications alone. According to study findings, companies would enrol recent graduates in WIL programs largely to supplement their education with relevant work experience, which would help them grow and maximize their productivity. Finally, I discovered that employers believed all schools were regulated and followed the same national standards of teaching and learning, thus they did not consider institutional reputation when choosing qualified applicants. This also resonates more with the human capital idea rather than the credentialism theory, which provides a social closure perspective, and assumes that the more prestigious universities are associated with better quality graduates. My interpretation of the aforementioned five key findings leads me to believe that employers primarily view qualifications as stand-ins for the actual knowledge and abilities needed to do the job. However, even when they were not just relying on qualifications, they still looked for qualities like job experience and soft skills, which are all referred to in literature as examples of human capital. These results strongly imply that the human capital theory is more important in explaining and influencing hiring decisions for engineering candidates. Human capital theory appears to have replaced qualifications as the predominate mechanism for explaining employment choices in the engineering sector, despite a few modest hints that qualifications served as a sort of screening function. In a discipline like engineering, where the body of knowledge is very closely correlated to the job that needs to be done, this makes sense.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The perceived strengths and weaknesses of NATED, NCV and Occupational Qualifications in training plumbers at TVET Colleges
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Mogale, Lesetja James; Shalem, Yael; Allais, Stephanie
    This research report investigated the perceived strengths and weaknesses of NATED, NCV and Occupational Qualifications in training plumbers at TVET Colleges. The research investigated the views of lecturers, learners and campus managers on what they view as the strengths and weaknesses of NATED, NCV, and Occupational Qualifications in training plumbers at TVET colleges. The main differences are the manner in which practical and theoretical knowledge are taught in the three courses, which appears to be a strong factor in the perception of the strengths and weaknesses of NATED, NCV, and Occupational Qualifications. The main weakness of the NATED qualification is the absence of the practical component at the college level. However, the main strength of the NATED is its flexibility to allow working students to attend classes on a block release basis or as part time students. The main weaknesses of NCV is that it does not allow employed students to attend classes on full time or part time bases. The qualification require students to complete the whole three years to exit the programme. However, the strength of the qualification is the basic practical component which provide students the skills to start own businesses. The strength of Occupational Qualification is that its students are already employed by their different companies as apprentices. The main weakness is when the host employer is not able to conduct all practical component and the lead employer is not able to find the alternative host employer to conduct the missing practical component. In conclusion, the three qualifications differ significantly in the approach and delivery method. Although they all lead to apprenticeship which ends with candidates taking a trade test to qualify as artisans, their different approaches signify weaknesses and strengths.