Reimagining career empowerment in South African TVET: A Freirean critique of policy and pedagogy

Background: In South Africa, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is often promoted as a means to enhance employability. However, dominant policy frameworks tend to emphasise economic outcomes and labour market alignment, often neglecting the pedagogical dimensions crucial for empowering students. Objectives: This article aimed to critique the structural limitations of policy-driven TVET reforms and to foreground the importance of pedagogical transformation. It examined how critical, humanising pedagogies – drawing on Paulo Freire’s problem-posing approach – could bridge the gap between macro-level policy and micro-level teaching and learning experiences. Methods: The article employed a critical interpretive approach, informed by Paulo Freire’s pedagogy and Stephanie Allais’s structural critique of qualifications frameworks. Empirical data were drawn from a participatory action research (PAR) study involving 15 TVET graduates, whose post-study experiences illuminated the interplay between policy, pedagogy and career development. Results: Findings revealed that policy reforms alone were insufficient to achieve transformative outcomes. Graduates described how rigid, standardised curricula and competency-based assessments limited their agency and failed to prepare them for meaningful, adaptable and socially relevant careers. The data highlighted the need for dialogical, inclusive pedagogical practices that respond to students’ lived realities. Conclusion: Reimagining TVET requires more than structural reform – it demands pedagogical transformation rooted in student voice, critical engagement and social justice. Without this shift, TVET risks reinforcing existing inequalities rather than empowering students to access decent work and live dignified lives. Contribution: This article contributes to vocational education scholarship by offering a Freirean critique of South African TVET policy and pedagogy. It highlights the significance of linking structural reform to pedagogical change and argues for student-centred, participatory approaches that foster critical consciousness and career agency.