Learnerships and apprenticeships: key mechanisms for skills development and capability building in South Africa

In post-apartheid South Africa, skills development policy, learnerships and apprenticeships are key policy mechanisms intended to enhance employability in an inclusive manner, to equip unemployed young school leavers with skills, and to upgrade the capabilities of those already employed. Learnerships are an integrated programme of theoretical and workplace learning across all skills levels and occupations, while the apprenticeship system is a specific mechanism meant to produce intermediate level artisanal skills.